Punjab Assembly members take oath on reserved seats

PTI-backed SIC members express discontentment, claim their seats were 'robbed'

LAHORE:

The Punjab Assembly on Friday swore in lawmakers on seats reserved for minorities and women amid a ruckus by opposition members.

The provincial legislature again witnessed discontent from opposition benches during the oath-taking ceremony as the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council raised slogans against the move by the speaker.

Lawmakers from the PML-N, PPP, and other allied parties were sworn in on the reserved seats.

The provincial assembly session's start was delayed amid the chaos.

The speaker of the provincial legislature summoned the newly elected members to take the oath while secretary assembly announced the names of the panel.

Opposition lawmaker Rana Aftab, who had replaced Mian Aslam Iqbal as PTI's candidate for Punjab chief minister, claimed that the quorum was incomplete to which the speaker pointed out that the house had 104 members present – declaring a complete quorum to carry out the session.

The elected members stood up to take oath upon which the SIC-led opposition members started protesting. Rana Aftab argued that PTI had won the seats and joined SIC, arguing that oath was being administered on seats "which they deserved".

The speaker tried in vain by requesting the opposition members to let the assembly session run according to the "rules of business".

"The oath should not be adminstered since the decision regarding the reserved seats is still pending," argued Aftab. The speaker replied that all the proceedings were being done according to the "Constitution and the law".

The former maintained that the law was being "misinterpreted".

Read: Punjab, K-P bid adieu to caretakers as cabinets sworn in

The lawmakers were then sworn in on reserved seats amid chaos as the opposition chanted slogans of "shame, shame" at the PML-N members, claiming that their seats were "robbed".

Members of the opposition also took oath on specific seats while continuing their protest and sloganeering.

Among those who were sworn in on women's reserved seats are Sadia Muzaffar, Fiza Maimoona, Abida Bashir, Maqsoodan Bibi, Amira Khan, Somia Atta, Rahat Afza, Rukhsana Shafiq, Tahseen Fawad, Farzana Abbas, Shagufta Faisal, Uzma Butt, Maria Talal, Sajda Naveed, Nasreen Riaz, Afsheen Hasan, Amna Parveen, Shahr Bano, Zeba Ghafoor, Rubina Nazir and Syeda Sameera.

Tariq Masih, Waseem Anjum and Basru Ji were sworn in on minority seats.

Earlier, the Peshawar High Court extended its stay order on the oath-taking by members of the National Assembly allotted reserved seats till March 13 on a plea filed by the SIC, while PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar said his party would challenge before the top court the “tampering” with Forms-45 issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

A five-member larger bench of the PHC, headed by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, heard the petition filed by the SIC – a little known party in which the PTI independent members found refuge – against the ECP’s decision to turn down its request for its share of reserved seats for women and minorities.

The other judges on the bench included Justices Ijaz Anwar, SM Attique Shah, Shakeel Ahmed and Syed Arshad Ali.