Newly elected PML-N MPAs take oath 2 days after refusing to join Punjab Assembly
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Six PML-N MPAs, who were elected to the Punjab Assembly in the recent by-polls, swore oath for their seats on Wednesday, two days after declaring they would not join the assembly.
The oath was administered to the newly elected lawmakers by Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.
Sohail Shaukat Butt, Saiful Mulook Khokar, Owais Lesghari, Malik Iftikhar, Jafar Hocha and Nasir took their oaths in the assembly.
On Monday, the PML-N MPAs had said they would not take oaths for their provincial assembly seats until Elahi reinstated the six lawmakers that had been suspended for allegedly spreading chaos in the house.
During the PA budget session last week, Speaker Pervaiz Elahi had issued show-cause notices to half a dozen PML-N MPAs for allegedly attacking the assembly staff, vandalising furniture and using abusive language about the government, and had banned their entry to the assembly during the ongoing budget sessions.
Today, the PML-N lawmakers clarified that they had taken their oaths by the permission of the party but would continue their protest by not taking part in the proceedings until the reinstatement of the suspended members.
They said that PML-N's victory in the by-polls, held more than two months after the general election, was a sign that the public had "rejected" the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government.
The strength of PML-N members in the provincial assembly has now gone up to 168.
Meanwhile, opposition parties in Punjab Assembly boycotted a committee formed to investigate the ruckus during the budget session, complaining of inadequate representation.
PML-N leader Khawaja Imran Nazeer said that no one from his party will join the committee as it showed the "complete bias" of the government. He said that members from the PPP and journalist community should also be part of the committee.
Talking to DawnNewsTV, Nazeer termed the committee as a "dhandla committee", adding that it included 10 government lawmakers and only two from the PML-N, while PPP had no representation at all.
"This is a biased committee and we cannot expect justice from it," he said.
