LAHORE, May 28: While the Punjab Assembly speaker has blocked the disqualification proceedings against five MPAs of the PML-N, the PPP-Parliamentarians and the MMA who had changed loyalty, another PML-N female legislator joined hands with the ruling party on Saturday. Ms Nayyer Murtaza Lone from Gujranwala called on Punjab Chief Minister and provincial PML president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at the Punjab House in Islamabad and announced her decision to join the party, which already has more than two-thirds majority in the 372-seat provincial legislature.

Law Minister Raja Basharat and provincial secretary-general Chaudhry Zaheeruddin were also present on the occasion.

Saturday was the day when the PML-N was celebrating the anniversary of the 1998 nuclear tests and paying tributes to its leader Nawaz Sharif for taking the courageous decision of making Pakistan a nuclear state.

The chief minister said at the meeting the ruling party was growing in popularity because of its services to the common man. It was for this reason, he said, that legislators from other parties wanted to join the ruling party.

Ms Lone was one of the most loyal PML-N legislators. She was arrested on the day Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, accompanied by Tehmina Daultana, had dodged a security dragnet and reached GOR-1 by a car from their Model Town residence. They had locked themselves in the car and stayed inside for about seven hours, keeping the security personnel on tenterhooks.

The veiled lady from Gujranwala — Ms Lone — was arrested in an indecent manner.

It was because of her loyalty that the leadership decided to bring her to the legislature.

While changing loyalty, Ms Lone said in a statement attributed to her that she was impressed by the development works being carried out by the PML government. She also praised the steps being taken by the Punjab chief minister to eradicate poverty from the country’s biggest province.

It may be recalled that the PML-N has already lost three of its legislators to the ruling party. They are Ahad Malik, Begum Rehana Jamil and Saba Sadiq.

The PPP-Parliamentarian’s Khalid Wattoo has also crossed the line. MMA’s Fayyazul Hasan Chauhan is also sitting on the treasury benches after being elected on the religious alliance’s ticket.

The three parties approached the Punjab Assembly speaker with the request that references be sent to the Election Commission against the defectors. The speaker refused to recognize the movers as leaders of their respective parliamentary parties, who alone are competent to initiate such proceedings.

And since the speaker has yet to explain what the three should do to establish their locus standi, no further proceedings against the defectors are being planned.

Punjab PML-N Chief Organiser Zulfikar Khosa said Saba Sadiq, a defector, had “enticed” Ms Lone into the ruling party.

He said rulers claimed day in and day out they were strengthening democracy but their actions belied their statements.

“It’s a shameful act”, he said both of Ms Lone’s defection and the reception accorded to her by the ruling party.

Khosa said disqualification of the defecting members was the only constitutional way to curb the menace. But, he regretted, an “individual” who was more loyal to his bosses than his constitutional obligations had blocked the process.