100 PML-N MPAs resign from standing committees

LAHORE: Nearly 100 PML-N legislators in the Punjab Assembly, who were included in the provincial assembly’s different standing committees, submitted their resignations from all those committees on Thursday.

The PML-N members holding offices of chairmen or members of various standing committees resigned in protest against the PTI government’s decision of refusing to give the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee-One to Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz despite agreeing to it in principle and continued refusal to issue production orders for the opposition leader and PML-N’s jailed MPAs.

The resignations were handed over by a PML-N delegation headed by former minister Malik Nadeem Kamran to Director Parliamentary Affairs Punjab Assembly Inayatullah Luk. The other members of the party delegation included Iqbal Gujjar, Samiullah Khan and Zeeshan Rafiq.

Talking to the media, Kamran said the standing committees had been practically dysfunctional due to the dictatorial and arrogant attitude of the ruling party. He said it was a black day in the parliamentary history when all opposition legislators resigned from the standing committees to protest the undemocratic attitude of the government.

Samiullah accused the government of not fulfilling the promise of making Hamza Shahbaz chairman of the PAC-I. He said the denial to the opposition legislators their production orders for attending the house proceedings is an injustice not only to the opposition but also to the democratic values. He said the dictatorial attitude of the ruling party forced the opposition members to take the extreme step. He urged Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi to intervene in the matter and resolve the issue.