LAHORE: Though the Punjab Assembly speaker had ‘deseated’ the opposition leader around five weeks back, the assembly secretariat declared Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar as the holder of the office through a notification issued on his election as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee-I on Wednesday.

Polls for the chairpersons of five Punjab Assembly committees, including the PAC-I, were held here on Wednesday. Mr Bhachar was elected head of the PAC-I, Hafiz Farhat Abbas of the standing committee on environment protection, Junaid Afzal Sahi of industries, commerce & investment, Muhammad Awais of food, Hasan Ali of sports & youth affairs, and Adnan Dogar of forests & wildlife.

The assembly secretariat issued notifications of all the elected chairpersons, who all belong to the PTI-Sunni Ittehad Council.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan had on July 26 declared the office of opposition leader in the provincial house as vacant in the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict, which had overturned the Peshawar High Court and Election Commission of Pakistan’s decisions on the reserved seats’ issue.

“The opposition leader (Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar) had been given the office on the strength of the Sunni Ittehad Council in the house and this platform no longer exists after the Supreme Court verdict, which robbed the Sunni Ittehad Council of its parliamentary status,” the speaker had told a press conference.

However, the notification issued by Punjab Assembly secretary-general Chaudhry Amer Habib mentions Mr Bhachar as the opposition leader.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024