Daily Times

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Monday summoned the assembly session to meet next week (on July 29) on the requisition submitted by the opposition.

It will be the 12th session of the ongoing Punjab Assembly, and it is worth mentioning here that it will be the 5th session that has been called on the requisition of the opposition. Earlier, four sessions of the Punjab Assembly were summoned on the requisition of the opposition to discuss various issues, including inflation, hike in prices and arrest of the PML-N leadership by the NAB. According to the rules of business, the speaker is bound to convene the session within 14 days of the submission of the requisition signed by 1/4th members of the House, and the PML-N has over 150 members in the house of 371.

Moreover, a couple of MPAs from PML-N have submitted resolutions in the Punjab Assembly while condemning the media blackout of Maryam Nawaz’ rally that she led in Faisalabad on Sunday. “This House strongly condemns the directives of chairman PEMRA not to telecast the rally of PML-N and the selected Prime Minister is trying to suppress the voices of the opposition,” said MPA Azma Bukhari in her resolution. It is a coward act to impose ban on the media to telecast the speeches of the leaders of opposition parties while the so-called democratic government is trying to make controversial the fourth pillar of the state through such tactics, the legislator said in her resolution. MPA Azma Bukhari also demanded the resignation of chairman PEMRA through her resolution as she said that he has misused his office and therefore no more eligible to keep his office.

Meanwhile, in a separate resolution submitted in Punjab Assembly, MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the restrictions being imposed on the media to telecast the rallies and public gatherings of the PML-N leadership. “This House strongly condemns the imposition of media coverage of the rallies of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz by the federal government and other institutions,” she said in her resolution. These acts are undemocratic and immoral and these restrictions are tantamount to murdering the basic democratic rights, she said. The Chief Justice should take immediate action against those who are imposing restrictions on media to suppress the voice of opposition leaders, she concluded. “I was accompanying Maryam Nawaz during her Faisalabad rally and the participation of public was truly overwhelming as it took over 8 hours to reach Faisalabad,” she told this scribe.

Talking to Daily Times, former MNA of PML-N from Faisalabad Rana Afzal said that the rally of Maryam Nawaz remained more successful than our expectations as people came in droves in the streets and roads of Faisalabad. He was of the view that it is really unfortunate that it was a complete media blackout of the rally despite the fact that it was a huge power show of PML-N. “The district administration of Faisalabad also used typical tactics to disrupt the rally by arresting our workers and putting huge containers in the city to block our way but our show remained successful despite all these tactics,” the former MNA from Faisalabad said. We disseminate our message through the social media among the masses as severe restrictions have been imposed unfortunately on the mainstream media, he said.