Daily Times

LAHORE: President Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q), former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that the necessary repairs to the damaged Punjab Assembly chambers have made it unavailable for the session and the renovation is only possible through a lock-down.

Responding to media, he said the youthful parliamentarians should not follow their leaders blindly and take decisions as per the voice of their conscience.

To a query on the prevailing political scenario, Shujaat Hussain said he had been elected to the National Assembly five times, adding that such situations keep on recurring and there is always a remedy to this.

The seasoned politician, responding to a recent diatribe against PML-Q leadership in Punjab Assembly by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said Fazlur Rehman should not forget the times when his father Maulana Mufti Mehmood was dragged through the NA staircase and thrown out of the assembly alongside eight other MNAs by the federal police, adding that Maulana Mufti Mehmood was injured in the high handedness by the administration for damaging the infrastructure.

He said Maulana should mind that no such practice of manhandling members was adopted by Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi although the cause was the same.

On the adjournment of the PA session, Chaudhry Shujaat said the repairs could only be made by blocking the outside traffic, adding that the assembly chambers are not fit for the session. He said when the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) MPAs could not outnumber the ruling party members, they played havoc with the new furniture, sound system, and IT equipment installed at the newly inaugurated house.

He said the session has been adjourned till April 16 due to necessary repairs, adding how a session can be held without furniture, sound system, and IT equipment.