LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Acting Speaker Zahid Iqbal Channar has reinstated 26 suspended opposition lawmakers, saying that their presence would send a positive message and restore the spirit of assembly proceedings.
“Even I’m not enjoying it without the opposition members,” Channar remarked while addressing the house on Tuesday.
He said the presence of opposition lawmakers is crucial for meaningful parliamentary debate and directed the immediate issuance of a notification to bring them back to the assembly floor.
On June 27, PTI lawmakers protested in the house during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s speech. The proceedings broke into a disarray as lawmakers surrounded the speaker’s dais and raised slogans.
In response, Speaker Malik Ahmed Khan suspended 26 opposition lawmakers for 15 sittings and fined 10 MPAs Rs200,000 each for “damaging public property”.
He then filed disqualification references with the Election Commission against the 26 PTI legislators over “unparliamentary conduct”.
However, two days earlier, the PA speaker formally rejected the petitions seeking the disqualification of 26 PTI members following successful negotiations between the government and the opposition.
In his written decision, he underscored that the speaker’s role was not merely to act as a “postman” by forwarding such requests to the election commission. He cautioned that such an unscrutinised process could “weaken the constitutional framework” and “curtail freedom of expression” within the provincial assembly.
He clarified that while disruptive behaviour in parliaments worldwide often faced stringent measures, the serious allegations of legal and constitutional violations, including those related to oaths, must first be proven in a competent court or tribunal.
PTI-backed opposition MPAs include Malik Farhad Masood, Muhammad Tanveer Aslam, Syed Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood Qureshi, Kaleem Ullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmad Mujtaba Chaudhary, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismael, and Khayal Ahmad.
Shahbaz Ahmad, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, Khalid Zubair Nisar, Ch Muhammad Ejaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Rana, Aourang Zaib, Shuaib Ameer and Usama Asghar Ali Gujjar.
Separately, 10 opposition lawmakers had been fined more than Rs2 million for acts of vandalism such as breaking microphones as per the relevant video evidence.
Those fined include Chaudhary Javed Kausar, Asad Abbas, Tanveer Aslam, Riffat Mehmood, Muhammad Ismael, Shahbaz Ahmad, Imtiaz Mehmood, Khalid Zubair, Rana Aourang Zaib and Muhammad Ahsan Ali — all of whom will have to pay Rs203,550 each.
