The Punjab Assembly (PA) session, with a no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari on agenda, was adjourned by Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi till 11:30am on May 16.
Later talking to the media, Ch Pervaiz Elahi blamed harassment of the assembly’s officials by police officers as the reason for postponing the session. “The assembly officials are being harassed and intimated by police officers. Some of them have been arrested while the police have been carrying out raiding on the houses of other staffers,” he added.
Regarding the confusion over the oath-taking ceremony of Chief Minister (CM) Punjab, Elahi said that Buzdar is still the CM.
However, in the light of the Lahore High Court (LHC) orders to Punjab Governor Omer Sarfraz Cheema regarding oath-taking from CM-elect Hamza Shehbaz, there is some probability that Hamza may take oath today (Thursday).
Voting on the no-confidence motion was scheduled for Thursday and it was supposed to be held through a secret ballot. No Member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA) was allowed to bring their cellphone to the House. Women lawmakers were also barred from carrying their handbags.
Security around the House was quite strict after the PA session on April 16 witnessed unprecedented violence which left many lawmakers injured.
According to Dawn, a PML-N MPA told the news outlet that PML-N, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s dissident lawmakers agreed to support Deputy Speaker Mazari in the no-confidence motion.
The no-confidence against the deputy speaker was submitted on April 7 when he summoned the assembly session early on April 6 instead of April 16— a development that was opposed by PML-Q and PTI.
Mazari’s sudden change of heart to hold the session earlier was termed the ‘handiwork’ of the PML-N leadership that allegedly wooed him through a ‘good offer’.