Speaker issues orders for Shahbaz to attend NA session on Oct 29

Published October 26, 2018
Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif. — File
Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif. — File

Speaker Asad Qaiser has convened a National Assembly session on October 29 and issued orders for the production of Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif, who has been in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Ashiyana housing scam.

Members of the main opposition PML-N had on Wednesday formally submitted an application to the NA Secretariat, requesting the speaker to issue a production order for opposition leader and party president Sharif so that he could attend the upcoming session of the house beginning on Oct 29.

The production orders, copies of which have been sent to NAB and other concerned authorities, direct the bureau's Lahore team to produce Sharif at 4pm on Monday before the parliament's sergeant-at-arms, who after the conclusion of the session will return him to NAB's custody.

The productions orders have been issued under Rule 108 of the rules of procedure and conduct of the business in the National Assembly 2007, according to a spokesperson of the speaker's office.

The NA rules of procedure allow the speaker to issue orders for the production of any under-custody member of the lower house if he/she considers the MNA's presence in a session to be necessary.

Sharif was arrested by NAB Lahore authorities in the Ashiyana housing scam case on Oct 5 and since then he has been in detention on physical remand.

Soon after his arrest, the PML-N had submitted a requisition notice to the speaker who later called the session on Oct 17 after issuing the production order for Sharif.

The PML-N president had been specially brought to the Parliament House by NAB authorities for the one-day session in which Sharif revealed the questions being asked to him by the investigators, alleging that there was an unholy alliance between NAB and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

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