PA session adjourned amid PML-N boycott

LAHORE:

Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan rejected PML-N’s request on Monday for allowing its five MPAs facing a ban to attend the ongoing session. The entry of the opposition lawmakers had been banned at 15 sittings over their alleged role regarding five ballot papers going missing during the speaker’s election on July 29.

PML-N’s Sardar Awais Laghari said on a point of order that the government had included in the agenda the “constitutional crises, price hike and law & order” for general discussion, but the opposition hoped that its version would be shown to public without any censorship.

He said that following an administrative mistake on July 29, five opposition members had been banned by presiding officer Waseem Khan Badozai. He requested the speaker to issue a ruling to lift the ban and allow the members to attend the session. He contended that a presiding officer acting for a day could not impose a ban on the five members.

Speaker Sibtain Khan replied that the PML-N should show patience while the matter was investigated. He said the ban would end if the MPAs were innocent. He said could not show such hurry as had been shown while rejecting PML-Q’s 10 votes on the basis of a letter pulled out from a pocket.

After the remarks, the PML-N boycotted the house proceedings and then its members Zaibun Nisa Awan pointed out the quorum.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2022.