Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to challenge the suspension of membership of 18 of its members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) for 15 assembly sessions by the speaker in the court, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday. 

Quoting its sources in the PML-N, 24News reported that the party had even started consulting its legal team on the matter.  

Sources further said that there was an opinion in the party that since the Punjab government knew that Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi did not enjoy the support of a majority in the provincial assembly, therefore, the speaker had intentionally suspended membership of the MPAs so that they could be politically victimized. 

Punjab Assembly (PA) Speaker Sardar Sibtain Khan had suspended the membership of 18 PML-N MPAs yesterday (October 24, 2022) namely Mian Abdul Rauf, Samiullah Khan, Malik Muhammad Waheed, Azma Bukhari, Saba Sadiq, Raheela Khadim Hussain, Rabiya Nusrat, Rabia Farooqui, Zaibun Nisa Awan, Zeeshan Rafiq, Kanwal Liaquat Advocate, Gulnaz Shehzadi, Nafeesa Amin, Muhammad Afzal, Adil Bukhsh, Saadia Nadeem, Rahat Afza and Sunbal Malik Hussain. 

These PML-N members had protested during the assembly’s session held three days ago, on Saturday, October 22, 2022, in which former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar had read out a resolution, condemning the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under which former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan was disqualified for the present National Assembly’s (NA) term.

Reporter: Umar Aslam