ISLAMABAD: Governor of Punjab has termed ruling of speaker of Punjab Assembly a violation of constitutional and an illegal action.
In sharp contrast to federal government’s ministers claims, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman did not remove Punjab chief minister as he failed to take a vote of confidence on Wednesday afternoon.
And Governor of Punjab was holding consultations with legal experts and federal government to handle the prevailing situation and did not denotify Pervez Elahi as chief minister till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman, who belongs to the PML-N had summoned Punjab assembly session on Wednesday at 4pm, asking chief minister to take a fresh vote of confidence.
However, speaker of the Punjab assembly adjourned the session of provincial assembly and termed the order of Governor illegal.
Punjab Governor directed chief minister to take a vote of confidence under Article 130’s section 7. Governor said that it was the speaker’s responsibility to defend the Constitution and uphold the law.
Governor said, “When discharging constitutional responsibility, the PA speaker must not give in to personal preference. Speaker is bound to honestly and impartially fulfill his duties.”
Governor of Punjab stated this in his reference written to the speaker of Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan, who belongs to PTI.
In his three-page reference, the governor added that the speaker has sworn to an oath under the Constitution and cannot deviate from it.
“The speaker raised illegal points in the ruling. The Punjab Assembly speaker gave an incorrect example of the high court case and Manzoor Wattoo case,” the reference stated.
Punjab Gover gave reference of the Lahore High Court’s Wattoo vs Federation of Pakistan case wherein, the circumstances were different in comparison with the current situation.
“Your good self’s reliance on the above mentioned judgement of the Lahore High Court is also misplaced inasmuch as the facts and circumstances involved in this judgement are clearly distinguishable, there is nothing that prevents me from requiring the chief minister to obtain vote of confidence from the Assembly.”
Governor Punjab disregarded other rules that the speaker had cited in his ruling and added that it has “no bearing” on the order to hold a session for the confidence vote.
Meanwhile, the PML-N leaders said that Governor Punjab will denotify chief minister on Wednesday if he failed to take a vote of confidence.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
