Five reserved seats MPAs sworn in

Law dept claims oath administered to them by Speaker Parvez Elahi ‘unconstitutional'

LAHORE:

Another constitutional crisis erupted on Thursday between the provincial government and the opposition lawmakers over the legal status of the administration of oath to five reserved seat members in the Punjab Assembly -- recently notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the Lahore High Court orders.

The law department claimed that the Punjab Assembly session being run was “unconstitutional”.

Therefore, it contended that the oath administered to them by PML-Q leader and Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was also unconstitutional.

The opposition claimed that the PA session was actually in accordance with law and the one being run at Aiwan-e-Iqbal was unconstitutional.

As the session's proceedings started, the five members on reserved seats were sworn in.  They claimed that the “old Pakistan” would be pushed into a new one on July 17 -- the day by-elections would be held for 20 provincial assembly seats.

The lawmakers from the PTI and PML-Q claimed to have clinched the victory in by-polls scheduled to be held on July 17 on 20 seats that fell vacant after the ECP de-seated dissenting lawmakers of deposed premier Imran Khan’s government over not following the party line in the contest for the chief minister’s slot on April 16 between PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz and Elahi.

Earlier, the ECP had notified PTI’s Batool Zain, Saira Raza and Fouzia Abbas as returned candidates on the seats reserved for women in the Punjab Assembly. The ECP had also notified Habkook Rafiq Babbu and Samuel Yaqoob -- both belonging to the PTI as well -- on reserved seats for minorities.

Though the opposition lawmakers expressed their strong concerns over the violation of the ECP’s code of conduct in different constituencies, they also seemed optimistic over the replacement of old Pakistan with a new one in the upcoming by-polls.

Read PTI bags five reserved seats in PA

They urged the ECP to take appropriate measures to deal with such a situation in which the commission appeared to be biased.

They maintained that different surveys were indicating PTI’s victory in the by-elections following which the PML-N was making various efforts to defeat it.

PTI’s Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed cautioned the ruling government officials that his party’s activists would deal with them with “iron hands” if they did not stop favouring the PML-N.

 Speaker Elahi said he personally knew the Sharif family and they were “masters of rigging”. “They [Sharif family] can’t stop themselves from wrongdoings but we will counter all their tactics with the help of the Almighty.”

Former law minister Raja Basharat lambasted the police, holding them responsible for tarnishing Pakistan’s image across the world. He claimed that everyone was watching what was happening with journalists including anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan and now with Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh.

The speaker adjourned the proceedings till 1pm on July 18.

Turncoats buried

The PTI’s lawmakers said they had buried the politics of those who did not show loyalty to their party.

PML-N challenges LHC order

A Lahore High Court division bench headed by Justice Shahid Karim sought a reply from ECP by July 14 on an intra-court appeal filed the PML-N against its earlier order to the commission of notifying five members on reserved seats.

PML-N counsel Mansoor Usman Awan told the court that the LHC's single bench order was not in accordance with law and passed without fulfilling legal requirements.

He requested the court to set aside the single bench's order. He further prayed to the court that till the final decision of the intra-court appeal, the operation of the single bench's order as well as the ECP's notification be suspended.

PTI MPA Zaineb Umair's counsel Advocate Azhar Siddique argued that the LHC had passed an order in accordance with law. He argued that it was the constitutional right of the PTI to receive the notification on the reserved seats after the ECP had de-seated those of its members who had not followed the party line during the contest for the chief minister's slot on April 16.