Punjab Assembly May Cancel PTI Members’ Seats After Ashura
According to sources, the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly and the Provincial Law Ministry are holding detailed discussions about ending the membership of some PTI lawmakers.
Sources said that PTI members can lose their seats if they go against their party’s parliamentary leader. This is based on a past court ruling by former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial in a case involving Hamza Shehbaz.
Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said such decisions have happened in the past. He also said his office is reviewing the court’s ruling for legal advice.
A reference to remove these lawmakers from the assembly will likely be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after Ashura.
26 Opposition Members Suspended
Earlier, the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly suspended 26 opposition members for “creating disturbance during assembly proceedings.”
Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan announced that these 26 lawmakers would not be allowed to attend the next 15 sessions because they broke the assembly’s rules.
The suspended members include:
Malik Fahad Masood, Muhammad Tanvir Aslam, Syed Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood Qureshi, Kalimullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmed Mujtaba Chaudhry, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismail, Khayal Ahmed, Shehbaz Ahmed, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Murtaza Iqbal, Khalid Zubair, Ijaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Mir, and Usama Asghar Ali Gujjar.
PTI MPA Mian Ijaz Shafi, one of the suspended members, said, “It is our democratic right to protest.”
He also claimed, “We were suspended on the orders of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. But we will not be silenced.”
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