Another spirited session of Punjab Assembly would start from Thursday on the requisition submitted by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) -led opposition. A massive protest from the opposition benches is highly expected as it would be the first session since raids by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the residence of opposition leader, Hamza Shehbaz, for his arrest in multiple cases. No matter what the session may unravel, the original requisition called the session to discuss the prevailing inflation and deteriorating law and order situation of the province.
However, the issue of the bureau’s raids would also be discussed in the House; Daily Times has learnt reliably.
The requisition to convene the session of Punjab Assembly was submitted on March 29, which was signed by over one hundred members of Provincial Assembly. The Speaker was bound to call the session within 14 days after the submission of the requisition.
According to the rules, a quarter of the total strength of the house is required to submit the requisition.
In a House of 371, at least 93 MPAs were required to summon the Punjab Assembly session, and PML-N has over 160 MPAs in the House. It may be worth mentioning here that the opposition was not in a position to submit even a single requisition for calling the assembly session during the last five-year tenure because of the numbers game.
Round 50 lawmakers used to sit on the opposition benches while PML-N enjoyed the overwhelming majority with over 300 MPAs in the house at that time.
It is important to note this would be the third session summoned on the request of the opposition. A total of eight sessions has been convened.
Opp determined to prolong the session to four days
Earlier, second and fourth sessions of the incumbent Punjab Assembly were summoned at the demand of the opposition benches.
Talking to Daily Times, PML-N’s MPA, Samiullah Khan, who submitted the requisition on the behalf of the opposition, noted that our focus would be more on the issues of the people instead of discussing our personal issues.
“Since Hamza Shehbaz is the leader of the opposition and the raids of NAB were conducted at his residence after the submission of the requisition, we’ll raise this issue in the House today and the Pakistan People’s Party is already on board with us over the matters,” added Samiullah.
NAB’s raids to arrest Hamza likely to come in question
He went on maintaining, “I contacted the parliamentary leader of PPP Syed Hassan Murtaza a few days ago and he assured me of his full support during the session.”
He was of the view that opposition wanted to prolong the session to a minimum of four days to discuss the issues. Yet, he believed that the Punjab government did not have enough patience to face the criticism of the opposition, and it was likely to prorogue the session on the same day.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party’s parliamentary leader, Hassan Murtaza, also confirmed, while speaking to Daily Times that the raids of NAB at the residence of Hamza would also be raised in the session since he held the coveted office of the leader of the opposition.
“The government has made the life of a common man miserable as inflation is increased manifold in past some months and the law and order situation of the province has also been deteriorated and the PPP will raise all these issues in the House,” he concluded.
