NA session on October 17 over Shehbaz's 'sudden arrest'

PML-N had threatened agitation over former Punjab CM's nabbing

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has summoned a session of the lower house on October 17  to "discuss the sudden arrest" of Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif.

Qaiser has summoned the session of the lower house by exercising the powers conferred by article 54(3) of the constitution.

 





The decision to summon the National Assembly (NA) comes following the expiration of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Tuesday deadline on summoning sessions of the lower house and Punjab Assembly.  The party had earlier threatened an agitation over Shehbaz's arrest at a CEC meeting chaired by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.



A delegation of opposition leaders on Monday requested National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to summon a session. In the Punjab, several MPAs reached Provincial Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi to summon a session “under Article 54(3) read with Article 127 of the Constitution" on Shehbaz's arrest.

An accountability court on Saturday remanded Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) custody for ten days for interrogation into a housing scam amid angry protest by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers outside the court premises.

The country’s top accountability watchdog on Friday arrested the PML-N President over his alleged involvement in a multi-billion rupees housing scam, the Ashiyana-e-Iqbal Housing Project.

Shehbaz, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, was arrested by NAB inside its Lahore office where he was summoned to record his statement before a combined investigations team in connection with the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.