A delegation of opposition leaders met Nationwide Meeting Speaker Asad Qaiser at his residence on Saturday to induce him to summon a Nationwide Meeting (NA) session over the arrest of Chief of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif.
Led by former PML-N speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the delegation additionally included Raja Zafarul Haq, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and others.
NA Speaker Qaiser assured the delegation that an NA session will likely be known as inside 14 days.
Following the assembly, the delegation delivered a media discuss, the place Sadiq linked the timing of Shahbaz’s arrest to the upcoming by-elections.
“An try is being made to steal the by-elections,” he stated. “The federal government solely has a lead of 4 members.
“[Shahbaz] was known as for the Saaf Pani case however was arrested within the Ashiana case. PML-N is being made a goal of political vengeance. The federal government is utilizing the NAB,” he alleged.
He referred to Data Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s feedback, by which the latter had stated that Shahbaz’s arrest was the “first step”. He requested if NAB would now arrest individuals on the federal government’s orders.
He additionally questioned the timing of the choice to put the names of Khawaja Saad Rafique on the Exit Management Record, saying that he was one of many candidates of the upcoming elections.
Whereas the previous speaker clarified that he supported the accountability of politicians, he additionally requested: “Who will maintain NAB accountable?”
“I’ll contact Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pervez Khattak as nicely,” Sadiq added, hoping {that a} parliamentary session will likely be known as in two to 3 days.
Chief of the Opposition in Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq additionally expressed his considerations over the event and stated that the “total nation was unhappy” at Shahbaz’s arrest. He repeated Sadiq’s demand for an NA session and insisted that “it was essential that manufacturing orders for opposition chief Shahbaz Sharif are issued”.
In the meantime, JUI-F chief Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidery termed Shahbaz’s arrest as “shameful” and claimed that the federal government was “making cowardly selections towards one social gathering”.
“Opposition is not going to stay silent,” he warned and added that: “It appears the federal government has determined to go residence already.”
MPAs request speaker Elahi to convene PA session
Later within the day, a number of MPAs from Punjab wrote to Speaker Pervez Elahi to summon a session “underneath Article 54(3) learn with Article 127 of the Structure of Pakistan to debate the unjustified arrest of the Chief of the Opposition”.
PML-N’s Samiullah Khan, one of many co-signatories to the applying, demanded that the Punjab Meeting session be convened earlier than October 16 — the day when Shahbaz’s remand will finish.
Decision moved in PA towards Shahbaz’s arrest
PML-N chief Hina Pervez Butt tabled a decision within the Punjab Meeting condemning Shahbaz’s arrest.
“The arrest of Mian Nawaz Sharif earlier than basic elections and the arrest of Mian Shahbaz Sharif earlier than by-elections has raised a number of questions,” Butt states within the decision. “Such soiled ways are getting used to run a failing authorities.
“This [latest] arrest proves that one social gathering is being arrest however the different is being given aid. Revenge is being exacted within the identify of accountability.
“Subsequently, this parliament registers a complete protest towards Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s arrest and calls for his speedy launch.”
Butt warned that in case of the federal government’s failure to launch Shahbaz earlier than the by-elections, there will likely be countrywide protests.