After a long absence of around 223 days, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif eventually ended on Friday his ‘self-imposed exile’ from the Punjab Assembly (PA) and attended the budget session 2011-12.
It was the CM’s eighth attendance out of 27 assembly sessions since April 2008. Last time, he attended the session on October 18, 2010 during the third parliamentary year. Shahbaz arrived 10 minutes late and stayed until the end of the budget speech.
“Shahhaz really disrespected the honourable house by staying away from a number of assembly proceedings, which reflects his authoritarian mindset. PM Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, who is criticised by the Sharifs, attended most of the sessions of the National Assembly,” a member of the provincial assembly (MPA) told Pakistan Today.
Shahbaz was facing heavy criticism by opposition parties including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) for not attending assembly sessions over the last seven months. Three assembly sessions were specially called with a direct request to the CM to end his absence from the assembly but Shahbaz did not attend the session due to reasons best known to him.
In a bid to intensify pressure on Shahbaz, Punjab Opposition Leader Raja Riaz also submitted a letter to PA Speaker Rana Iqbal asking him to ensure presence of the CM on May 12 during a session of the house. The PPP leader said that that his letter to the speaker was another attempt on his part to bring Shahbaz back to the house to answer questions.
A number of opposition parliamentarians also asked the CM as to why he preferred to stay away from the assembly. But neither the CM nor his close aides including Pervaiz Rashid, Rana Sanaullah and Zulfiqar Khosa bothered to respond.
