Press Gallery: Production order for opposition leader ignored

Special committee meeting postponed due to absence of Hamza

LAHORE:

Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz's production order for Punjab Assembly has been ignored for the first time in the past year due to rising tensions between the government and the opposition. As a result, he could not attend a meeting of a special committee of the assembly.

The meeting of the special committee was postponed at the request of PML-N Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Iftikhar Hussain Chachhar due to absence of the opposition leader. PML-N criticised non-implementation of the production order issued by the speaker. It has decided to take up the matter with Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. PML-N core committee member MPA Samiullah Khan met Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti and expressed concern over non-implementation of production orders of the leader of the opposition. Samiullah Khan said the speaker would be contacted about the important issue and asked why the production order was not executed.

He said clarification should be sought from the Punjab government in this regard because the move had also violated the privilege of the speaker and opposition leader. "We will then formulate our strategy," the lawmaker added.

According to sources, the opposition is also holding consultations over requisitioning a session of the assembly on the issue.

On the other hand, government sources said that on the same day that the production orders of Hamza Shahbaz were issued, about 60 arrested PML-N workers were presented in various courts in Lahore for bail and the police were on duty to take them to the courts due to which the opposition leader could not be brought to the Punjab Assembly from jail.

The PTI's federal government had earlier refused to implement the production orders of former president Asif Ali Zardari, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former federal minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah. Now in Punjab the provincial government has not implemented the speaker's production order for the first time.

The speaker Punjab Assembly did not have the authority to issue production orders for the arrested members of the assembly earlier. However, the rules of procedure of the Punjab Assembly were amended apparently to provide relief to Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan and PML-N member Khawaja Salman Rafique and the speaker Punjab Assembly was given the power of issuing production orders.

Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz was arrested by NAB on June 11, 2019. On June 12, he was remanded for 15 days. However, the speaker Punjab Assembly on June 13 issued a production order of Hamza Shahbaz for the budget session. According to sources, Prime Minister Imran Khan was not happy with the issuance of production order of Hamza Shahbaz. However, the PML-N leadership, including the opposition leader, thanked the speaker for issuing the production order.

Meanwhile, in the Punjab Assembly session, a resolution was tabled by PML-N chief whip Khalil Tahir Sindhu, calling for the inclusion of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's speech in the country's first Constituent Assembly of August 11, 1947 in the curriculum at all levels.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2020.