The session of Punjab Assembly could not take up any agenda item for second consecutive day due to the non-implementation of production orders of detained MPA Nazir Chohan of Jahangir Khan Tareen group. Speaker Punjab Assembly Chauhdry Pervaiz Elahi, on Friday, was once again irked by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as it failed to produce detained lawmaker in the House for the second consecutive day even after his production orders were issued by the speaker on July 28.
The session ended just after the recitation of Holy Quran and Naat with no official business at all as Mr. Elahi categorically stated that the assembly session will not proceed until the detained MPA is produced in the House. Questions related to the Zakat and Usher department were there on the agenda item, while a bill was also to be introduced in the government business but not a single agenda was taken up by the Speaker. The session already started after the delay of more than two hours from its scheduled time with Speaker Mr. Elahi in the chair. “The production order is not implemented as yet,” Elahi said, soon after the start of the session.
“As I made it clear yesterday that session will not proceed until Nazir Chohan is produced here, and therefore, I adjourn the session to meet again on Monday at 2pm,” Mr. Elahi said amid desk thumping and slogans of ‘shame shame’. His decision was endorsed and appreciated by the lawmakers present in the House.
It is worth mentioning here that on Thursday, the Speaker Mr. Elahi had said that no legislation of the government will be passed this way. “The assembly session will be summoned daily and only the issue of Nazir Chohan will be taken up until he is not produced here,” he added.
Mr. Elahi snubbed the bureaucracy and officials for not producing the MPA in the House and was actually perturbed by this situation for the second consecutive day. “I issued his production orders on July 28. Why was Chohan not produced in the House? Do they want a fight with the Parliament,” he asked on Thursday. He also said that bureaucracy will not be allowed to breach the privilege of the assembly’s members and the lesson would be taught to them through a recently passed bill about the privileges of lawmakers.
MPA Nazir Chohan was arrested by FIA and was sent on physical remand for two days on a complaint registered against him by the Prime Minister’s aide on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar.
Meanwhile, a privilege motion was also moved in Punjab Assembly by PML-N’s MPAs Bilal Farooq Tarar and Adil Bakhsh Chattha against CPO Gujranwala Sarfraz Falki. The MPAs said in their joint motion that their privilege was breached by the police on July 25 during the AJK polls and CPO Gujranwala Mr Falki is responsible for it as they were manhandled by the Gujranwala police that day. Both the MPAs represent Gujranwala in Punjab Assembly. The privilege motion was referred to the concerned committee of Punjab Assembly while seeking report within a month.
