Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Opposition Boycotts Punjab Assembly Over Lawmaker Suspensions

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed opposition in the Punjab Assembly has decided to boycott house proceedings and its standing committees. Instead, they plan to hold a parallel session in a tent outside the assembly building.

Opposition leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar announced this decision at a press conference, explaining that it was a protest against the suspension of 11 opposition lawmakers for 15 sittings. The lawmakers were suspended for alleged misconduct during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s budget speech.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan revoked the official vehicle assigned to the opposition leader and imposed sanctions on the 11 members for using non-parliamentary and abusive language. The suspended members include Zulfikar Ali, Shehbaz Ahmed, Muhammad Atif, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mahmood, Hafiz Farhat Abbas, Ejaz Shafi, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Amir, Osama Asghar Ali Gujjar, and Asad Abbas.

Bhachar argued that the sanctions were imposed without proper hearings and were unprecedented. He recalled past incidents where opposition members faced no repercussions for similar actions. The opposition plans to pursue legal avenues against the government’s actions and will continue their parallel assembly sessions in a ‘tent chamber’ outside the assembly building.