‘Opp will not join assembly unless suspension, fines withdrawn’

LAHORE: Opposition Leader Ahmad Khan Bhachar has made it clear that the opposition will not return to the Punjab Assembly until their suspended members are restored and fines withdrawn.

However, both the government and opposition have agreed to respect Rule 223 of PA Rules and Procedures. “If the government truly wants us back in the House, it must restore our members” said the Opposition leader while taking to media on Thursday after the meeting with the government concerning the issue related to 26 suspended MPAs.

Members from both opposition and government attended the meeting whereas Speaker PA Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan joined the meeting video link as he is on a foreign tour these days.

He congratulated both sides over their consensus of safeguarding the sanctity of the House.

“Both sides presented proposals, and we agreed that the Advisory Committee would be reactivated, and the long-dormant Ethics Committee would also be made functional,” he stated.

He added that the government and opposition would work together to run the House under Article 223 and through the Ethics Committee.

“The government accepts that protest is the opposition’s democratic right.

They haven’t backed down from that stance, but using abusive language is not acceptable neither now, nor in the past,” he said.

Bhachar warned, “If our members are reinstated, that’s fine. If not, we will hold our own assembly outside the official building.”

“No one has asked us for an apology, nor have we offered one.

We are not here to seek forgiveness from the government while our members remain suspended and penalties are imposed,” said the Opposition leader.

He reiterated that Opposition had not backed down from our position. “Our members and fines have not been withdrawn until they are, we will not return to the assembly,” he said.

Bhachar concluded by saying, “We were in the Opposition, and the Opposition never backed down from protest. Former Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Opposition leader Malik Ahmad Khan, MPAs Raheela Khadim Hussain, Ejaz Shafi, Ali Imtiaz and others attended the meeting of dialogue committee. This was the third round of talk between the two sides held in the PA Secreteriat.