LAHORE: The opposition parties in the Punjab Assembly (PA) have demanded to summon the assembly session immediately as they want to discuss the Justice Baqir Najafi report in the house.
They also seek a detailed answer from Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is also the leader of the house, over his involvement in the incident in which 14 innocent people were killed while over hundred got injured from the brutal firing of the Punjab police.
As per the details, the opposition has requested the speaker to convene the 34th session of the Punjab Assembly as soon as possible because they want to debate on several issues including the irregularities in 56 companies of the Punjab government that were established under the public-private partnership and a general debate over the Model Town report of Justice Baqir Najafi, Pakistan Today has learnt.
“The Punjab government is deliberately trying to delay the session of the PA and it is completely an undemocratic act of the government,” leader of the opposition Mian Mehmood Rasheed said while adding that both Shehbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah have nothing to say in their defence in the aftermath of the report. He added that therefore, they are not willing to come to the house to clarify their positions.
He further stated that opposition wants a general debate over the scam of 56 companies of the Punjab government as most of the companies were established without following the practices of transparency and where the government is paying hefty salaries to the bureaucrats from the national exchequer.
It is worth mentioning here that the previous session of the Punjab Assembly could remain in progress just for two days as it was prorogued because of the law and order situation as the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) was staging sit-ins in the whole province over the issue of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat.
Opposition parties protested at that time also over the adjournment of the session while also threatening to stage a sit-in at the stairs of the assembly if the government failed to summon the session as soon as possible.
It has been learnt reliably that the government is avoiding the assembly session because of the issue of the resignations of some lawmakers that is looming for a few days over the issue of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat.
Maulana Rahmatullah from Jhang (PP-74), Muhammad Khan from Jhang (PP-81) and Sahibzada Ghulam Nizamuddin Sialvi from Sargodha (PP-37) have publicly announced their resignations on Sunday at a Khatm-e-Nabuwwat conference held in Faisalabad and have authorised the custodian of Sial Sharif shrine Pir Hameeduddin Sialvi to decide about their political fates.
Moreover, the delay in the assembly session is due to the demand of the resignations of Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah, which came from the opposition parties soon after the government made Justice Baqir Najafi report public, as the government is expecting a massive protest from the opposition in the house if the session is called.
Meanwhile, talking to Pakistan Today, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in the Punjab Assembly Qazi Ahmed Saeed said that the government must convene the session of Punjab Assembly as soon as possible keeping in view the deteriorating situation of the province, and where the chief executive of the largest province of the country was found guilty in the report.
He further added that although the opposition has thin numbers in the assembly, the opposition is united in demanding the assembly session to be held immediately.
It is pertinent to mention here that the assembly session can be summoned in two ways. The first way is to convene the session through the summoning order of the Governor of the province and this way is normally adopted by the government whenever it wants to convene the session. Secondly, the speaker of the assembly is bound to call the assembly session within a fortnight if one-fourth (1/4th) of the lawmakers of the total strength of the assembly send a requisition to the speaker.
It is important to note that there are 53 parliamentarians who sit on the opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly. The house has a total strength of 371 while the strength of 93 is required to send a requisition to the speaker for convening the assembly session.
