LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led government seems to have prevented Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from being sworn in as a member of the Punjab Assembly, citing possible contempt of court as certain petitions were filed in various courts over the issue of the disgruntled PML-N leader’s oath.

On Monday, assembly secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti sought two days to check with the principal seat and Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) if any stay orders had been issued against Chau­dhry Nisar’s oath-taking.

The former interior minister had been elected from Punjab Assembly’s constituency PP-10, Rawalpindi-V, in the 2018 general elections as an independent candidate with a margin of over 34,000 votes, but did not take the oath alleging rigging that led to his defeat in the National Assembly’s constituency NA-59, Rawalpindi-III.

He finally decided to take the oath after around three years to pre-empt a government bid to disqualify, through an ordinance, the members-elect for failing to take the oath within a certain period of time.

Chaudhry Nisar claimed that he had called Mr Bhatti immediately after Eid holidays to find out when the next assembly session would be convened so that he could take the oath. When the secretary didn’t provide a satisfactory answer, he delivered a letter to the assembly secretariat through a lawyer on Thursday expressing his intentions to take oath the next day (Friday) or Monday. A copy of the letter was also sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

“But, I’ve been told today that I cannot take oath as both the speaker and deputy speaker are unavailable,” he told the media after around two-hour deliberations with Minister for Prosecution Chaudhry Zaheer and Mr Bhatti in the speaker’s chamber. He also reminded the duo that earlier the ruling party’s Sania Kamran had been administered oath in the absence of the speaker and deputy speaker in the budget session last year.

Mr Bhatti issued a clarification later, saying that Nisar was not refused administration of the oath. Rather, a statement added, there were three petitions with the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC and two with the principal seat in Lahore to de-seat him for not taking oath. “We have asked for two days to check if there is any stay [order] in any court, lest we commit contempt of court by [administrating] oath in violation of the stay,” the secretary said.

Hinting that those at the helm of affairs wished to prolong the issue, the statement added the oath would be administered “after seeking legal opinion on the matter”.

Endorsing the secretary’s statement, Law Minister Raja Basharat said the assembly secretariat will form its opinion after confirming the status of cases from courts, and that a legal opinion will be sought after going through the court record.

In his private meetings, Nisar has been quoted as blaming Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi for the episode.

Although the politician from Chakri told the media that he’s not becoming part of any political game, the government’s efforts to bar him from taking oath suggest that it smells something fishy behind the move.

A PTI leader told Dawn that these fears were not unfounded as, he claimed, Nisar held a clandestine meeting with PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif before going to the assembly to take oath.

The opposition PML-N could try to overthrow the Buzdar government if deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif accepted the former interior minister back into the party fold, the leader remarked.

Once considered second to Nawaz Sharif in the party, Nisar had refused to contest the 2018 polls on the PML-N ticket after developing differences with the party chief. The differences ranged from the kind of relations to be maintained with the military establishment to the hegemony of the ‘House of Sharif’ within the PML-N, as he had publicly refused to accept Maryam Nawaz as the next party chief.

The PML-N distanced itself from Chaudhry Nisar’s decision to take oath, saying he had parted ways with the party and contested the polls as an independent candidate. The party’s Punjab Information Secretary Azma Bukhari said the disgruntled leader’s decision was personal, and the party had no hand in the government’s efforts to block his bid to take oath.

Criticising Nisar’s move, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said the MPA-elect kept the voters of his constituency unrepresented for three years.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2021