Daily Times

LAHORE: Three main opposition parties in the Punjab Assembly on Friday boycotted the session, protesting against the government for hiding Justice Baqir Najfi Commission’s report on Model Town killings, demanding to table it in the House first and then make it public.

Legislators of the opposition parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) urged the speaker to give them time to talk on the said report, but he disallowed the move, saying that the matter was sub judice.

When the speaker muted the mike of Arif Abbasi of the PTI who was talking in favour of tabling the report in the House, the opposition members jointly announced boycotted and left the House. Meanwhile, PTI female member Naheed Naeem pointed out the quorum that later forced the speaker to prorogue the session for an indefinite period.

The Punjab Assembly session on Friday started an hour and 20 minutes late from its scheduled time under the chair of Speaker Rana Iqbal Khan. After reciting verses from the Holy Quran and naat, the House adopted the question hour about the Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department and Parliamentary Secretary Ehsaan Riaz replied to the queries. Mostly the treasury members raised their voices against poor facilities at hospitals, including out-of-order ventilators and MRI, CT Scan and X-ray machines.

After that, on a point of order, PTI’s Asif Mehmood stood on his desk and said that the House should be taken into confidence regarding the Najfi report before making it public; otherwise the opposition would not accept it. However, the speaker stopped him from discussing the issue in the House as the matter was sub judice. On this, Arif Abbasi of the same party also stood in favour of bringing the matter into the House, saying that when the House could pass a resolution in favour of a disqualified prime minister and when his case was also in the court than why the Najfi report could not be discussed in the PA.

The speaker immediately muted his microphone, on which all the opposition members sitting in the House boycotted the proceedings in protest against the speaker for his biased. Due to lack of quorum, debate on inflation could not take place in the House, despite being on the agenda of the day.

It is worth mentioning that the Punjab law minister had confirmed that his government had filed an intra-court appeal in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday morning against the decision of the single bench to make the Najfi report public.

Published in Daily Times, September 23^rd 2017.