Order issued: Ziaullah allowed to attend assembly session today

Production orders were issued by assembly secretariat on Wednesday

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat has issued an order to allow former minister for mines and mineral development Ziaullah Afridi to attend the assembly session on Thursday (today).

A source in the K-P Assembly Secretariat confirmed issuance of the order on Wednesday.

A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf worker told The Express Tribune, Ziaullah was pleased with the issuance of his production order. “His lawyers are hoping to obtain a bail for him and if it is accepted he might go to his house directly from the hospital,” he said.

The former minister was recently shifted to Lady Reading Hospital due to an ENT complication. He had met Peshawar District Nazim Asim Khan, provincial ministers Shah Farman, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi and several other officials, during his stay at the hospital.

An official privy to the development said the government has issued the production order over the guarantee of two ministers of the cabinet that Ziaullah will not speak against the Ehtesab Commission, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and the provincial government.

“Ziaullah had sent an application to the K-P government on August 4, asking for a production order,” he said. “The government was initially hesitant as it feared the former minister might speak against the commission, chief minister and the government if the order was issued.”

However, Ziaullah has assured that he will avoid criticising anyone during the session and will speak only if he is asked to do so.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th,  2015.