KARACHI: The PTI legislators on Tuesday cried foul over a colleague’s arrest by police and protested against the speaker for not issuing his production order for the Sindh Assembly session.
On a point of order, PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman Khan attempted to raise the issue of his colleague Arsalan Taj’s arrest by police, but Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani denied him an opportunity to speak out.
He told the speaker that he wanted to inform the house about Arsalan Taj’s arrest, but Agha Siraj replied that he was told by the assembly’s secretary about an application from the PTI in this regard, which he will go through after the session.
The refusal led to a pandemonium in the house with high-pitched noise made by the PTI legislators, who stepped out of their benches and staged a protest in front of the speaker’s chair. They were shouting chants.
Earlier, Khurram Sher Zaman said that the police has violated the privacy rules and raided Arsalan house without even accompanying female personnel. He said that the lawmaker was arrested at 4 am illegally.
There should be legal grounds for filing a case, he asked. In response, the Speaker said that he will decide whether Arsalan production order should be issued once a report he receives on the arrest.
The exchange of words with Aga Siraj further deteriorated the situation, as Khurram Sher Zaman said that "you are not ready to listen to our views". The Speaker finally ordered to turn Khurram Sher Zaman microphone to stop him from further speech.
Thus, the PTI lawmakers surrounded the Speaker chair and shouted chants "free Arsalan" and "we don't accept the law of repression". Aga Siraj ruled that he will not issue production order until he receive a report and put off the session till Wednesday afternoon.
The PTI legislators also submitted a condemnation resolution to the assembly secretariat, which says that the police raided Arsalan Taj and Raja Azhar - both are the members of the Sindh legislature - without the lady personnel.
It says that the raid at the PTI legislators houses are illegal and a violation of the section 52. Arsalan Taj was arrested without the Speaker's approval and cases against him are baseless.
The police failed to fulfil all legal requirements before arresting the lawmaker, which is also a human rights violation, the resolution said and demanded for Arsalan Taj release.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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