LAHORE – Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal on Saturday wrote a letter to the prime minister urging him to advise the president to remove Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer from his office for violating the constitution by leaving the country without informing the authorities concerned.
The letter alleged that the governor remained away from the country from December 5 to 8. The speaker has also sent a copy of the letter to President Asif Ali Zardari. This is the first case of its nature in the country’s history, as it involves an important law point which the speaker wants settled.
The letter claimed that anyone who avoided initiating action against the governor would also become a violator of the constitution. The letter asked the prime minister to discuss the issue in the cabinet meeting. It stated that the law of 1975 made it mandatory for the office of the governor that his absence should be dually informed.
The letter said the governor had stopped the speaker from discharging his constitutional duties for four days as according to law, the speaker takes over as the acting governor in the absence of the governor. The letter claimed that Taseer violated articles 104, 4 and 5.
