Daily Times

LAHORE: Some of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators in the Punjab Assembly were seen fuming on Friday over the removal of Nawaz Sharif as party’s head by the Supreme Court a few days ago.

Also, some of them held a protest outside the Punjab Assembly building and threatened to resign from the provincial assembly over the removal of their leader as party’s chief

While the issue of arrested bureaucrat Ahad Cheema was also discussed both by the treasury and the opposition members even outside the assembly after the culmination of the Punjab Assembly’s session on Friday.

The treasury members, including Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Minister for Mines and Minerals Chaudhry Sher Ali strongly opposed the arrest of Ahad Cheema by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and announced to table a resolution against his arrest in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

Meanwhile, the opposition also held a protest against the Punjab chief secretary for allegedly backing Ahad Cheema by halting state work through his secretaries. The joint opposition, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q), also warned to hold a protest today (Saturday) at Civil Secretariat against the chief secretary.

Mian Aslam Iqbal of the PTI while talking to protesting colleagues and the media said that Ahad Cheema was a front man of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and accused him of receiving kickbacks in Sahiwal Coal Power Plant, OrangeLine Metro Train (OMT) and other projects.

Iqbal said that the the Punjab chief secretary had allegedly passed an illegal resolution in favour of Ahad Cheema and against NAB during a meeting of secretaries. He alleged that the chief secretary was provoking public servants to hold a pen down strike to save a corrupt officer.

He said that if the chief secretary would not “mend his ways” they would knock at the door of the court. He added that secretaries and other officer were not personal servants of ruling Sharifs but state servants as they were being paid by the taxes of people.

On the other hand, Rana Sanaullah while talking to the media said arrest of Ahad Cheema was an illegal step as corruption charges leveled against Ahad Cheema were yet to be proved. He warned NAB chairman that the arrest of Ahad Cheema could create unrest among bureaucracy. He reiterated that Nawaz Sharif could not be minus be removing his as party chief.

Chaudhry Sher Ali said that history would prove the decisions of the judiciary against Nawaz Sharif wrong.

During the protest, PML-N legislators, including Waheed Gull, Dr Farzana and Rukhsana Kokab, chanted slogans against the court’s decision and said that they could tender their resignation in the wake of the decision of the apex court.

Also the youth wing and women wing of the ruling PML-N held small demonstrations in front of Lahore Press Club, Liberty Chowk and Faisal Town against the court decision disqualifying the Nawaz Sharif from party’s position too.

Published in Daily Times, February  24^th 2018.