LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan has declared the office of opposition leader in the provincial house as vacant in the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict, which 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 said at a press conference here on Friday.

“Since the Sunni Ittehad Council members, who had proposed the name for the slot of the opposition leader have now gone to the PTI, the office of the opposition leader has fallen vacant,” he declared.

The apex court had on July 12 declared Imran Khan’s PTI eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition.

The verdict came on the matter on a set of appeals moved by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) against the denial of reserved seats for women and non-Muslims to it by the PHC and ECP.

PTI-backed candidates, who had contested and won the February 8 elections as independents after their party was stripped of its election symbol, had joined the SIC to form a coalition of convenience.

Though some quarters believe that the speaker’s decision is just a political rhetoric, Supreme Court Bar Association President Shehzad Shaukat and senior lawyer Mubeen Qazi assert the step is in line with the court verdict.

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They say as the SIC lost its parliamentary status under the Supreme Court verdict, it’s logical to remove the person who occupied an office on its nomination to make room for the nominee of the PTI, the successor of SIC.

Earlier in May, Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan suspended 24 women and three minority MPAs elected on reserved seats and barred them from joining house proceedings after the Supreme Court had suspended the ECP’s verdict to allocate reserved seats to parties other than SIC/PTI.

‘Zero tolerance for politics of abuse’

Referring to the opposition’s allegation of not giving it proper time in the house, the speaker said since the house came into being five months ago, 70 per cent of the time of the proceedings was given to the opposition.

However, in a reference to use of abusive language against Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif by some opposition MPAs during the budget session last month, he said if the opposition would do politics of abuse, it would not be tolerated.

About the recent assembly session requisitioned by the opposition, which then boycotted its proceedings without even joining it for a single moment; he said that 60 opposition lawmakers signed the assembly roll without stepping into the house.

He said that the MPAs acted like ‘Ali Baba and 60 thieves’ by attempting to claim hefty travelling and daily allowances by signing the roll without attending the session.

The speaker said that an ethics committee has been formed to take up such issues and that he has contacted the government as well as the opposition to (amicably) resolve issues of the assembly.

About the purchase of luxury cars for him from the assembly funds, Mr Khan clarified that the cars have been bought for the speaker’s office and they will be used when national and foreign dignitaries visit the assembly.

He also claimed that all other elected houses in the country already had luxury cars for the purpose.

Meanwhile, the opposition stayed away from the elections to the offices of chairpersons of three standing committees of the house held here on Friday.

PML-N’s Samiullah Khan was elected unopposed as chairperson of the Privileges Committee, Khurram Virk of the Assurances Committee and Agha Ali Haider of the Excise Committee.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2024