October 03, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 20, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 2: Parliamentary party leaders of the PML-N and MMA in the Punjab Assembly submitted resignations of their members separately.

PML-N parliamentary party leader Rana Sanaullah submitted resignations on behalf of 38 party MPAs and the resignations of MMA legislators were presented by their parliamentary group leader, Chaudhry Asghar Ali Gujjar.

The Punjab Assembly secretariat confirmed the receipt of 43 resignations and said 38 of them came from the PML-N and five from the MMA.

Lawmakers and workers of the two parties gathered at the Lahore Press Club from where they paraded on Egerton Road before reaching the assembly building where they handed over their resignations to PA secretary Saeed Ahmad Khan in the absence of speaker Afzal Sahi.

Rana Sanaullah said he submitted three resignations on behalf of ruling party MPAs Mohammad Khalid Khan Kalyar from Sargodha, Chaudhry Mohammad Akram Gujjar and Laila Muqaddas, elected on the seats reserved for women, and produced authority letters on their behalf also. He said the three MPAs actually belonged to the PML-N and had later defected to the ruling party. They had now returned to the parent party and wanted to join the PML-N en bloc resignations. But they could not reach the assembly secretariat because they were under pressure from the government.

“They were told last night to report at the Chief Minister House on Tuesday morning or face consequences,” Rana Sana told Dawn. He said the party had, however, managed to secure their authority letters.

Earlier, the PML-N and the MMA leaders and legislators reached the assembly building in a procession whose participants were raising anti-government slogans. They gathered at the Lahore Press Club along with a good number of workers who were carrying banners and party flags and were chanting slogans. Some of the leaders were riding trucks, but most of the participants marched to the assembly building. The government had made tight security arrangements around the assembly building where entry was allowed only to lawmakers.

SECRETARY: The assembly secretary told Dawn that his secretariat had received 43 resignations, 38 of which were tendered by the PML-N members and five came from the MMA. He said resignations could be submitted to the speaker or the assembly secretariat in person or through an authorised person as provided under Rule 35 of the Punjab Assembly Rules.

He said the speaker would first satisfy himself about the resignations being genuine and then direct the secretariat to issue a notification.

It may be mentioned that the MMA had claimed that eight of its MPAs would tender their resignations; seven of them announced quitting the provincial assembly at a news conference the other day. But only five of them reportedly turned up on Tuesday.

NAMES: Rana Sanaullah also released a list of the PML-N MPAs who had resigned. Besides himself, those included in the list were Raja Mohammad Ali from Islamabad (PP-2), Raja Arshad Mahmood, Chaudhry Mohammad Ayaz and Malik Imran Ahmad from Rawalpindi (PP-6, PP-9 and PP-10), Sheikh Tanvir Ahmad from Jhelum (PP-26), Mehr Rab Nawaz Lak and Mian Mohammad Khalid Kalyar from Sargodha (PP-29 and PP-85)),Mohammad Nawaz Malik and Sheikh Ijaz Ahmad from Faisalabad (PP-71 and PP-72), Chaudhry Azhar Nadeem Ghoger from Toba Tek Singh (PP-85), Afzal Sultan Dogar and Chaudhry Sajjad Haider Gujjar from Sheikhupura (PP-166 and PP-169), Mian Yawar Zaman from Okara (PP-191), Babu Nafees Ahmad Ansari from Multan (PP-195), Dr Nazir Ahmad Mithu Dogar from Vehari (PP-233), Mehr Ejaz Ahmad Achlana from Layyah (PP-265), Malik Mohammad Iqbal Channer from Bahawalpur (PP-272), Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq Anwar from Rahimyar Khan (PP-296) and Dr Asad Ashraf, Bilal Yasin, Mohammad Ajasim Sharif, Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Chaudhry Mohammad Akram Kaliyar, Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmad, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor Khan and Mohammad Afzal from Lahore (PP-138, PP-139, PP-140, PP-141, PP-144) PP-149, PP-150, PP-152 and PP-160).

The women MPAs quitting the assembly were Parveen Masood Bhatti, Afshan Farooq, Khalida Mansoor, Nighat Parveen Mir, Shahnaz Saleem, Laila Muqaddas and Abida Javed.

Minority lawmakers who quit the assembly were Jeol Amir Sohotra and Kamran Michael.

The Jamaat-i-Islami claimed that eight of its MPAs were Mohammad Waqas Khan from Taxila (PP-6), Chaudhry Arshad Mahmood Baggo from Sialkot (PP-122), Chaudhry Asghar Ali Gujjar from Layyah (PP-264), Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar from Bahawalpur (PP-271) and Chaudhry Mohammad Shaukat and Syed Ehsanullah Waqas from Lahore (PP-143 and PP-154). Zaibunnisa and Tahira Munir are the two women MPAs who tendered their resignations.