Over a dozen legislators of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) staged a protest demonstration outside the Punjab Assembly secretariat on Wednesday against the delay in the notification for the appointment of leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly. The PML-N submitted a requisition to Punjab Assembly speaker on June 24 having signatures of some 150 Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) seeking a notification for Hamza Shehbaz as leader of the opposition but the Assembly secretariat is yet to notify Hamza Shehbaz for the slot as the Assembly Secretariat has raised objection on the signatures of some MPAs. The PML-N MPAs also met with Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari who has the charge of acting speaker these days as Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is working as acting governor until the appointment of a regular Punjab governor but in vain. According to the Assembly secretariat, the signatures of some MPAs do not match with their signatures on the roll-call register and that is the reason in the delay of notification. PML-N MPAs including Khawaja Imran Nazir, Bao Akhtar, Malik Arshad, Kanwal Liaquat, Khawaja Salman Rafique, Chaudhry Shahbaz, Samiullah Khan, Ghazali Salim Butt and Malik Waheed protested outside the Assembly secretariat demanding leader of the opposition notification for Hamza. While talking exclusively to Daily Times, MPA Kanwal Liaquat said that the Assembly secretariat raised objections on the signatures of “our seven MPAs and four among them have appeared in person including Rahat Afza and Naveed Aslam Lodhi for the verification of their signatures. Three of our MPAs including Rana Mashhood Ahmed are out of country and they have sent their authority letters in this regard but still the Assembly secretariat is using delaying tactics”, she said. “We are the largest party of the opposition benches with over 160 members and the requisition was signed by 150 MPAs but still delay in the notification raises many questions,” Kanwal Liaquat said, who is a lawyer by profession and is also the general secretary of PML-N women wing Lahore. A vote is cancelled if it is double-stamped and “we asked the Assembly secretariat to consider those signatures cancelled whom they have doubts and still the PML-N would be the largest party of the opposition”, she said. “The office of leader of the opposition is equally important as the office of leader of the house in the parliamentary form of government that is being practiced in our country and the house cannot be run without the leader of the opposition,” she said. Former provincial minister Khawaja Imran Nazir said on the occasion that the offices of both speaker and deputy speaker are using delaying tactics in issuing the notification. “They are trying to verify the signatures as we are withdrawing a hefty amount through a bank cheque,” Khawaja Imran Nazir said. According to the clause 23A of the rule of procedure of the Punjab Assembly, the speaker will declare the leader of the opposition once the election for leader of the House takes place with the consent of maximum members sitting on the opposition benches. Published in Daily Times, August 30th 2018.