Shumaila Rana names her ‘oppressors’

LAHORE: Shumaila Rana, in her amended petition submitted to the LHC, has accused several members of her party of “pressurising her into resigning”.

She has also accused the speaker of the Punjab Assembly of ignoring the legal procedure while accepting her resignation. The Lahore High Court has now sought replies from the Punjab Assembly speaker, deputy speaker and secretary by August 10.

Rana re-filed her petition, seeking restoration, after the court asked her to name those whom she had accused of threatening her.

Rana submitted that after the registration of the fraud case against her, a committee had been formed by her party, the PML-N, comprising Senator Pervez Rashid, MNA Pervez Malik, Muhammad Ajmal, and Naseem Sadiq. She also named three PML-N parliamentarians Khawaja Saad Rafique, Zulfiqar Khosa, and Raja Ashfaq Sarwar; saying that they were always present during committee meetings. She alleged that they had harassed into resigning by sending armed men to her house. She said her family was also threatened, adding that during that period she was mentally disturbed since her image was damaged. “I had to resign,” she said.

“The speaker also accepted my resignation, which I never gave him,” Rana said. One of the PML-N members grabbed it from me and gave it to the speaker. The speaker did not adopt the legal procedure while accepting my resignation, she stated in her petition. Rana added that according to Rule 35 of the Procedure of Provincial Assembly Punjab 1997, the speaker should have conducted an inquiry before accepting her resignation, which he did not.

She prayed that the acceptance of her resignation be declared illegal and without lawful authority. She also added that the notification issued by the Punjab Election Commission to de-notify her as MPA be declared illegal and the respondents directed to notify her as an MPA.

Shumaila Rana resigned in July 2009, after a case of theft and fraudulent use of credit card was registered against her at the Ghalib Market police station. She was acquitted on March 01, 2010 by a court.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2010.