Bluster broke out in Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly
Bluster broke out in Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly! Ruckus was created at the assembly when ‘lotas’ were thrown by lawmakers.
Author – Simran Chandel
According to Pakistan media, PTI law-makers threw “lotas” at Dost Mohammad Mazari attacked him and pulled his hair despite the presence of security guards.
Pakistan’s, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members allegedly manhandled Punjab province assembly deputy speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari when the session convened to elect the province’s chief ministers.
The PTI members swarmed around the speaker’s well in the assembly. They charged at Mazari while chanting ‘lotas, lotas’ in protest against dissenting PTI members who joined hands with the opposition to see the ouster from the Pakistan government.
The PTI members were referring to the dissident PTI members as lotas which means turncoats. A report by GeoNews pointed out that pulled his hair despite the presence of security guards. The report also said that they threw actual lotas – round pots for carrying water – at Mazari. Mazari quickly left the Punjab province assembly.
Mazari’s View
Mazari, however, told reporters that despite the incidents the elections will be held today and the results will also be announced today itself. The Lahore High Court (LHC) Wednesday asked the deputy speaker Mazari to hold elections on Saturday. Tough competition between Elahi and Shahbaz is expected today but the incident has led to a delay in voting which is yet to begin.
The Situation Build Up
The Lahore High Court on Friday had directed the deputy speaker to conduct the election in a free and fair manner on Saturday. A candidate needs 186 votes in the 371-member House to become the chief minister. In the Punjab Assembly, the PTI has 183 lawmakers, its ally PML-Q has 10. PML-N has 165, the PPP seven, while five are independent and one belongs to Rah-i-Haq. Responding to the criticism for naming his son as Punjab’s chief minister, Prime Minister Shehbaz said: “I don’t want to make my son we had offered this slot to Parvez Elahi but he refused to join hands with us”.
The PML-N had kept 24 PTI dissident members of the Punjab Assembly in a hotel for two weeks so that they could not be approached by ex-prime minister Imran Khan and his party leaders to woo them back. Prime Minister Shehbaz has condemned the attack on the Punjab Assembly’s deputy speaker and demanded the smooth election of the new chief minister of the province, which has been without its chief executive for two weeks.
