Punjab Assembly session today after Panama case verdict

LAHORE

Punjab Assembly is expected to witness a noisy session on Monday (today) as Opposition has decided to move a resolution demanding immediate resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif unless he gets cleared from the Joint Investigation Team.

The resolution submitted by the Opposition Leader Mian Mehmood-ul-Rasheed in the PA Secretariat demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to quit while keeping in view the judgment of the two Supreme Court judges who declared that Nawaz is no more Sadiq and Amin. The resolution demanded Nawaz Sharif to quit office unless he gets cleared from the Joint Investigation Team. On the other hand, the PML-N, which has already rejected the PTI demands regarding PM’s resignation, is also expected to pass an out-of-turn resolution in support of the party leadership and congratulate it to get cleared from the Supreme Court in the Panama scam.

In the House of 371, the Opposition has 50 members, including 30 from PTI, eight each of PPP and PML-Q, one from Jamaat-e-Islami and four independents, including Sardar Nasarullah Dareshak, Ali Salman Siddique, Ehsan Riaz Fatyana and Abdul Razzaq Niazi who are now siding with PTI.

The opposition members alleged that the PML-N would bar it from tabling the resolution but its resolution would be taken up due to which proceedings may come to a halt or the routine PA business may suffer.

“It is our right to table the resolution, we will move it for sure after consulting all the parliamentary heads in the joint parliamentary meeting which will be held before the PA session today (Monday)” said Mian Mehmood-ul-Rasheed while talking to The News.

He said Nawaz Sharif had lost any moral authority to hold the office of PM after the recent judgment and he must first get cleared himself from all the charges from the JIT.

Qazi Ahmed Saeed, the PPP Parliamentary leader stated that Opposition was united on one point agenda of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. He said that the resolution demanding PM’s resignation would be moved unanimously by Opposition, if allowed.

Waqas Moakkel, the PML-Q Parliamentary leader said that after the verdict of Supreme Court and particularly by two members of the full bench, a person sitting on such an important office first establish his position while clearing himself from the charges. Opposition would evolve a joint strategy for the PA session, said Waqas. The JI Parliamentary leader Dr Wasim Akhter wasn’t available for comment.

The Punjab government spokesman Malik Mohammad Ahmed Khan while responding to the PTI demand concerning PM’s resignation said it was nothing but a defiance to the Supreme Court judgment. In a statement, he said that the majority of the Supreme Court judges had ruled that he couldn’t be declared disqualified which showed that Imran’s demand had been rejected by the court.