Punjab: politicians wade into deeper, murkier waters

KARACHI: In a late Thursday night development, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman de-notified Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi after his failure to get vote of confidence from the provincial assembly, according to Aaj News.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected the governor’s action of de-notifying the Punjab Chief Minister. PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that the notification has no legal status.

BR Staff reporter adds from Lahore: Speaker of Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan said on Thursday that voting on no-confidence motion would be conducted in the first week of January.

Talking to media personnel outside the assembly building, he said that Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman cannot de-notify Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi whether the assembly is in session or not.

The speaker said that if the governor de-notified the chief minister he would send that letter to the president.

Punjab situation prompts a flurry of political activity

He also said that the differences between Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had nothing to do with parliamentary party of the Punjab chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In response to a question, he acknowledged that in his letter the Punjab governor had talked about a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Elahi. In the letter the governor had also talked about assigning of ministry to Khyal Ahmed and about Hasnain Bahadur Dreshak, which were internal matters of the PTI.

He said that in his response to the governor’s letter he had written that according to Article 130(7), the governor has to convene a new session and that the governor could not call a new session during the ongoing session. He said that his reply had been sent to the governor.

“The ruling of the speaker, whether given in the house or in his chamber, is valid,” said Sibtain Khan, claiming that he is acting according to the Constitution. He rejected the impression that he is trying to save the chief minister.

He is again writing a letter to the governor, he said. “I have full powers under Article 209A and 235.”

Nothing would be done in violation of the Constitution and the law, he said, adding that the governor should not issue “unconstitutional orders”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022