The Punjab Assembly (PA) on Friday witnessed a heated debate over production orders of Moonis Elahi amid a joint opposition walk out in protest of speaker’s refusal to comply with the PML-Q request.
The PML-Q, backed by the PPP, tried its best to convince Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal to accept their demand, but Iqbal, citing non-provision of rules, refused to issue the production orders for Moonis.
At the onset of proceedings, PML-Q Parliamentary Leader in Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Zaheeruddin asked the speaker to follow the precedent set by National Assembly speaker and issue the production order for Moonis. He said the speaker should asked the authorities concerned to produce Moonis to attend the Punjab Assembly sessions, as done by the NA speaker in case of PML-N MNA Anjum Aqeel. Zaheer said the speaker had full authority to do so.
Backing the PML-Q request, PPP’s Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz asked the speaker to issue the production orders of Moonis so that he could attend the assembly’s sessions.
Referring to the prime minister’s orders for production of detained PML-N MNA Anjum Aqeel in the National Assembly to attend the ongoing session, Riaz said the Punjab Assembly speaker should also follow suit.
However, Rana Iqbal refused to issue Moonis’ production orders, saying rules of business did not allow him to do so. He said that it was the provincial assembly that could empower him to issue such orders, but only after an amendment in the rules of business.
Upon this, Ahsanul Haque Nolatia of the PPP told the speaker on a point of order that although PA rules of business had no provision to issue production orders, they did not restrict the custodian of the House to issue a production order.
And in the absence of any such rules, the provincial assembly was bound to follow a higher institution, the National Assembly, he added. On the opposition’s insistence, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told the speaker that rules of the provincial assembly did not allow the custodian of the House to issue such orders. He said during the PML-Q’s previous regime, he and his party repeatedly requested then law minister Raja Basharat to amend the rules of business, but he had not paid any heed to the party’s request. Speaker Rana Iqbal eventually ruled that without getting authority from the House and amendments in the rules of business, he would not issue production orders for Moonis.
Walkout: The opposition lawmakers then staged a token walk out to protest the speaker’s refusal. PPP’s lawmakers returned to the house a few minutes later, but PML-Q legislators continued the protest for much longer.
Following the question hour session, PPP lawmakers from Mandi Bahauddin district criticised the Punjab government for not releasing any funds for development activities in the district.
Mandi Bahauddin is the only district in Punjab where the PPP won all five Punjab Assembly seats and the dstrict MPAs were of the view that the Punjab government was marginalising the district.
