LAHORE: The Punjab government maintains that the votes of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) dissident lawmakers for the opposition’s nominee for chief minister will not be counted by the assembly speaker, while the Lahore High Court ordered the assembly secretary to open the office of the deputy speaker.

Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, spokesman for the government’s candidate for Punjab CM Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, claims that in the eventual run-off election, the PML-Q leader would emerge as the new chief minister. He alleged that the PML-N leaders had detained PTI MPAs at a hotel and were shifting them to places after every few days like horses and cattle.

Speaking to the media at the Punjab Assembly on Monday, Mr Chohan said the opposition had not brought the PTI’s dissident MNAs to the National Assembly hall knowing well they would be disqualified for life. However, the MPAs elected on the PTI’s bat symbol would be required to vote for their candidate, he asserted.

Mr Chohan urged the superior courts to take suo motu action against the supposed trampling of Article 63A. It was a matter of grave concern that a party with 85 seats was reaching for the treasury benches, while the one with 155 seats was being sent to the opposition, he said.

LHC orders PA secretary to open deputy speaker’s office

He further maintained Punjab Assembly Speaker Parvez Elahi had not committed any wrong and run the assembly efficiently, adding that millions of people had come out on Sunday night to support former premier Imran Khan.

At a time when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was to be indicted, he claimed, the Federal Investigation Agency was being used to clear his name from the cases he was embroiled in.

Chohan also claimed that after the removal of Imran Khan, overseas Pakistanis had withdrawn trillions of dollars from the Roshan Digital Account, an allegation refuted by the State Bank of Pakistan later in the day. The central bank, in a tweet, rebutted the “fake news on social media about large withdrawals from #RoshanDigitalAccount and slowdown in inflows. So far in April, inflows are very strong at around $86 mn & there are no abnormal outflows. Total inflows have now surpassed $4bn”.

LHC order for PA

Meanwhile, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti on Monday ordered the secretary of the Punjab Assembly to open the office of the deputy speaker. The chief justice issued the order on the petitions of Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz and Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari against the delay in conduct of election for the chief minister and withdrawal of powers by the speaker, respectively.

Earlier, Mr Mazari personally appeared before the court on the directions of the chief justice, explaining what he did was purely legal, but his office had been closed on the instructions of the speaker.

Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi had withdrawn the powers vested in the deputy speaker after Mazari issued a notification for convening a session of the Punjab Assembly on April 6 instead of the April 16 announced earlier.

The PML-Q counsel Amir Saeed Rawn alleged that the powers of the deputy speaker had been withdrawn for violating the laws and rules of the assembly. At this point, a counsel for the deputy speaker objected to the derogatory language used by the PML-Q lawyer.

Hamza’s counsel Azam Nazir Tarar told the court that the office of the chief minister fell vacant after the resignation of Mr Usman Buzdar. He said Speaker Parvez Elahi had on April 2 unlawfully adjourned the assembly session called to elect a new chief minister for April 6. Later, the speaker once again unlawfully adjourned the session till April 16 despite an assurance given by the advocate general before the Supreme Court that the election would be held on the earlier date.

Punjab Advocate General Ahmad Awais told the court the session had been adjourned due to rumpus in the assembly. He said the opposition elected Hamza as the chief minister in a mock session in a private hotel, claiming the deputy speaker had chaired that session.

However, Advocate Tarar quickly rebutted the claim and told the court that the deputy speaker had not chaired the mock session, adding it was actually a political power show.

Chief Justice Bhatti questioned the AG whether the session could be adjourned on the pretext of disturbance if 10 people gathered outside the assembly.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, the counsel for the speaker, argued that the election for the new chief minister was not possible before April 16.

The CJ observed the court did not want to interfere in the affairs of the assembly unnecessarily. He observed that what had happened in the assembly was not good for the image of the country. He directed the parties to sit together with the AG and reach a consensus on the date for the chief minister’s election.

As the chief justice resumed hearing after a break at 2pm, the parties returned to the court without any consensus.

The chief justice directed the deputy speaker to go to his office with the LHC registrar and the Punjab Assembly secretary. The question relating to the powers of the deputy speaker would be decided during the next hearing on Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2022