PML-N accuses Elahi of orchestrating attack on Mazari

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday accused Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi of admitting non-members in the premises and encouraging bullying of Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference with fellow party leader Rana Mashhood in Lahore, Senator Attaullah Tarrar said that Saturday was the darkest day of Punjab Assembly’s history, when an attempt was made to assassinate Deputy Speaker Mazari while the province was functioning without a chief minister in office.

Tarrar said that four persons from Rawalpindi and Nadeem Abbas Bara from Lahore brutally assaulted the deputy speaker while some others also tried to attack him under Elahi’s supervision. He also pointed out that the election was repeatedly postponed due to incomplete numbers.

He said that when the deputy speaker was attacked, they could not intervene because they had won the election and did not want to take the matter further by quarreling. The PML-N leader said that Elahi acted arrogantly with the deputy speaker and siignalled to the assembly’s secretary to take up the job.

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He said that they consider Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as their elder and respect him with all their heart, but on Saturday, his honour was also reduced to dust.

He also said that a notification was also sent to Governor House, but the governor does not want to administer the oath. He added that the governor cannot postpone the swearing-in ceremony. “Omar Cheema is a patriot, delegate constitutional responsibility to someone else,” he further said.
Tarrar said that the speaker and deputy speaker will be decided by the party after the no-confidence motion.

“Asad Khokhar, Aleem Khan and Ahmed Ali Olakh are present with us, therefore, decision on speaker and deputy speaker will be taken after consultation with the party,” he added.

Mashhood said that the constitution has the power to restrict anyone from voting in the election of the chief minister of Punjab Assembly. He accused the former government of trying to run the assemblies on its own. “You also went to the high court,” he said, adding that the assembly was made a no-go area.

He further said that those found to be involved in illegal activities in the assembly would not be spared.
The PML-N leader said that Balochistan and Senate were take away from them but they accepted the results. He also requested contempt of court proceedings on the matter.

He said that the party would announce its action plan after Hamza Shehbaz’s swearing-in as the chief minister of Punjab.

Mashhood said that both speaker and deputy speaker were facing no-confidence motions in the assembly. Both the motions should be presented in the assembly soon, he added.