LAHORE: Although unconfirmed, media reports that National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had decided to send to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) the reference filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif created quite a stir in the political circles on Saturday.

Before Mr Sadiq could clarify exactly what he had said about the matter, the PTI weighed in on the controversy and said the speaker was trying to “mend his mistake” by deciding to send the reference to the ECP.

Subsequently, the speaker’s office contradicted the media report, saying that Mr Sadiq had no such plans.

“The speaker did not say that he had decided or intended to forward the PTI reference to the ECP, during a meeting with newspaper editors in Lahore earlier in the day. Mr Sadiq did not say a word about sending the PTI reference against PM to the ECP,” Ali Raza, a spokesman for Mr Sadiq, told Dawn.

He said the speaker had told the meeting that he was not the speaker of the ruling party alone but also of the opposition.

“I extend equal respect to the opposition members and my impartiality can be determined through an independent survey,” Mr Raza quoted the speaker as saying at the meeting.

“Answering a question about a reference against Imran Khan that he had sent to the ECP, Mr Sadiq told the meeting that he had made the decision on merit,” the spokesman said.

Naeemul Haq, the PTI’s information secretary, said that “like the prime minister the speaker is continuing to tell lies in the parliament”.

He said the PTI had no doubts about the “partiality of the speaker”.

In August, the PTI submitted to the speaker’s office a reference against the premier, seeking his disqualification as a member of the National Assembly under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

For its part, the ruling party submitted to the speaker a reference against the PTI chairman, which he sent to the ECP for appropriate action.

Published in Dawn October 2nd, 2016