LAHORE, May 30: The government had prorogued the Punjab Assembly after being instructed by the Lahore High Court chief justice to allow 27 members of the opposition entry into the assembly building, claimed the opposition leader, Qasim Zia, who was flanked by Rana Sanaullah of the PML-N and Asghar Ali Gujjar of the MMA at a press conference here on Friday.

Mr Zia claimed that all the 27 MPAs had gone to the Lahore High Court on Friday morning to seek justice, and the chief justice had directed the Punjab advocate-general to let them enter the assembly building.

Sensing the political embarrassment and legal vulnerability inherent in the action, the government panicked and prorogued the assembly, he claimed.

However, he added, the opposition would not let the government off the hook as it had decided to make a requisition for another assembly session so that the proceedings could start right from the point where the crisis began.

He reiterated the opposition’s earlier stand that the government did not have any legal ground for banishing 27 MPAs from the Assembly premises.

Rana Sana termed the chief minister a protege of the Army and described his government as being ineffective in the face of power that be.

The opposition had offered to come to the negotiating table if the government would let the 27 MPAs on the assembly premises. If the opposition benches had been part of the violence for the last three days, so were the treasury benches. However, none of the treasury members was barred from attending the session, he observed, claiming that this was due to the speaker’s inability or unwillingness to act as an independent manager of the house.

The speaker, he said, had claimed that he did not stop the 27 MPAs from entering the assembly premises but only from attending the session. Then, on whose order, the police did the deed, Rana Sana asked, promising to take up the issue through a privilege promotion in the next session.

“A proper FIR of the abduction of MPAs would be lodged,” he said. The next session would pass a resolution for initiating legal proceedings against the Punjab government, he maintained.

Mr Gujjar was of the opinion that the government deliberately let the crisis precipitate and turned down the opposition’s talks offer repeatedly. He promised to continue the struggle for “democracy and sovereignty of the house”.

The speaker was under intense pressure from the government and some ‘invisible hand’ made him do what he did during the last three days, the MMA leader claimed. He is on record as saying that he had earned the displeasure of chief secretary for being soft on the opposition. In view of these comments, one hardly needs any proof as to who is in charge of the province, Mr Gujjar said, adding that the speaker should have resigned after his orders were flouted by the police.