LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution condemning the attack on former Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa in London, calling for prosecuting the accused through the UK government.

The resolution tabled by a treasury member, Ahsan Raza, said the attack was on the state (as the ex-CJP was traveling in the Pakistan High Commission’s car when it came under attack) and not just on Mr Isa, accusing a political party (read PTI) of planning the assault.

It says that social media platforms were being used to incite people to attack Qazi Faez Isa since a week before the incident, as the ex-CJP was due in the Middle Temple, London, to receive a prestigious award.

The resolution demands a strict legal action against those involved in the incident by getting registered a case against the accused through the British government.

After the resolution was adopted by a majority vote, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan ruled that a copy of it should be sent to the federal government, which should forward it to the Diplomatic Police of UK, whose team visited the Pakistan High Commission in London on Wednesday.

Earlier, the opposition PTI members staged a token boycott of the house proceedings in protest against the arrest of opposition leader in the assembly, Malik Ahmed Bhachar, outside Adiala jail, Rawalpindi.

PTI MPA Rana Shehbaz alleged that Mr Bhachar had been tortured before his detention in the Adiala police station.

The house adopted another resolution, recommending doubling the number of beneficiaries of Christmas gifts. The mover, Rahila Khadim Hussain, said that the Punjab government gives cash gifts to 10,000 deserving Christians on the eve of Christmas and the number of the beneficiaries should be doubled this year.

Meanwhile, chairman of the standing committee on agriculture, Noor-ul-Ameen Wattoo, tabled in the house the report of the body on the Punjab Agriculture Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2024.

The speaker, however, deferred the discussion and passage of the bill till Thursday’s sitting.

He urged the opposition to come up with their amendments, if any, to the bill when it would be put to vote on Thursday and openly express their reservations about the proposed law.

He endorsed PTI lawmaker Rana Aftab’s views that tax should not be imposed on the farmers across the board.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024