Shumaila Rana: Plea for interim arrangement rejected

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Thursday rejected a plea from Shumaila Rana for her to be given interim permission to reassume the Punjab Assembly seat she resigned from under credit card theft allegations.

Rana’s counsel submitted that her plea for the restoration of her seat was pending in the court; meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz should be restrained from filling her seat. He said she should be allowed to temporarily function as an MPA.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial rejected the application and issued notice to the Punjab Assembly speaker for March 29. Rana has named the speaker, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, MNA Pervaiz Malik, Secretary to the Chief Minister Ajmal, Additional Law Secretary Naseem Sadiq, MNA Khwaja Saad Rafique, Senior Advisor to the CM Zulifqar Khosa and Raja Ashfaq Sarwar as respondents in the petition, accusing them of pressuring her to resign from the seat.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2012.