Pakistan: Punjab Police arrest senior Assembly official ahead of session
May 22, 2022
Lahore [Pakistan], May 22 : Punjab Police on Sunday arrested a senior official of the Punjab Assembly after conducting raids at the houses of multiple officials ahead of the surprise session called by the Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.
As per the reports by Pakistan media, the police conducted raids at the houses of Director General (DG) Parliamentary Affairs Rai Mumtaz, Secretary Coordination Inayat Ullah, and Secretary Punjab Assembly Muhammad Muhammad Khan Bhatti, a Punjab Assembly spokesman confirmed.
While the police arrested DG, the other two escaped, ARY News reported.
Following this, the Police have taken control of the Punjab Assembly building and deployed personnel at all entrances of the House.
The session is set to begin shortly, in which the no-confidence motions against Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari would be taken up, the Dawn reported.
Speaker Punjab Assembly Parvez Elahi condemned the police action and said that the actions were taken on the directions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He said that the raids depict the government's failure to prove its majority in the house, ARY News reported.
Pervaiz Elahi summoned a provincial Assembly session today ahead while earlier it was slated for May 30. He directed the Punjab lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to attend the Assembly session at 12.00 pm today, ARY News reported.
Earlier, the Punjab Assembly session was slated for the first week of May for which Elahi gave the date of May 16. However, the session was not held on the given date, Elahi rescheduled it for May 30. This is the third time the date was changed.
