LAHORE:The opposition in the Punjab Assembly held a symbolic session at the gate of the assembly building here on Wednesday as a protest against ban on entry of 11 opposition MPAs in the next 15 sittings of the house.

In the ‘Awami’ assembly organised by the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council, those ticket holders who claimed to have won in the Feb 8 vote on the basis of Form-45 took oath of their offices.

Ijaz Shafi, one of the 11 suspended MPAs, was made speaker of the Awami assembly that also passed a number of resolutions.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan had withdrawn the official vehicle from the opposition leader and imposed the sanction on rowdyism by the opposition during the speech of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on the completion of the annual budget approval process last Friday.

They included Zulfikar Ali, Shehbaz Ahmed, Muhammad Atif, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mahmood, Hafiz Farhat Abbas, Ejaz Shafi, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Amir, Osama Asghar Ali Gujjar and Asad Abbas.

They had used non-parliamentary and abusive language for the chief minister when she was recounting the achievements of her first 100-day rule on the conclusion of the budget approval process.

Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar also spoke at the Awami assembly and announced that the session would continue, while further line of action would be given within a couple of days.

Hafiz Zeeshan, one of the claimants to win in the Feb 8 election, said that the ‘real’ representatives of Punjab had assembled for the first time, while those who stole the mandate of the people were occupying the assembly building.

Among others, the sitting adopted a resolution calling for allocated reserved seats of women and minorities to the Sunni Ittehad Council.

Mr Shafi, the nominated speaker, then put off the proceedings.

Meanwhile, the ruling PML-N has rejected the ‘awami’ session as rioting at the assembly gate.

Punjab information minister Azma Bukhari said in a statement that the ‘fitna’ party assembled the defeated elements from across the province because their own MPAs were not with them.

She said they were not PTI members but the ‘terrorists’ wanted in the May 9, 2023 attacks.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024