Punjab Assembly dissolved

Punjab Governor Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mahmud on Wednesday dissolved the Punjab assembly as he signed the summary regarding the dissolution submitted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The chief minister had earlier sent a formal summary to the governor, advising him to dissolve the provincial assembly.

The move came after Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif spoke about the assembly being dissolved at a press talk in Lahore.

Three provincial assemblies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan had been dissolved on March 19.

The prime minister had previously urged the chief ministers of the four provinces to advise their respective governors to dissolve the assemblies by March 19. However, a deadlock on the matter between the government and the PML-N meant that Punjab’s assembly, whose tenure expires on April 9, was not dissolved on March 19.

The PML-N and PPP are still deadlocked over the issue of caretaker chief minister. The former has proposed Justice (Retd) Amir Raza and former federal secretary Khawaja Zaheer for the slot, while the latter has proposed three names – Asma Jahangir, Mian Amir Mehmood and Hefeez Akhtar Randhawa. Interestingly, Asma and Mian Amir have already turned down the role of a caretaker.

If the deadlock persists after three days of the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, then the speaker will form a six-member committee – with three members from both the opposition and the government – to decide the matter. If the committee, too, fails to evolve a consensus, the matter will go to the Election Commission.