LAHORE: Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi adjourned proceedings of the Punjab Assembly minutes after beginning of the session here on Friday as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) didn’t produce detained MPA Nazir Chohan in the House.

Soon after recitation of the Quran and Na’at, the speaker asked Law Minister Raja Basharat if the MPA had been brought to attend the session or not. When the minister replied in the negative, the chair announced adjourning the proceedings for Monday afternoon.

The speaker had issued production orders for the MPA on Wednesday (July 28) but he was not produced in the House for the second consecutive day.

Mr Elahi had announced on Thursday that until Nazir Chohan was produced in the House, the sitting would be held daily only to discuss this issue while no official business (lawmaking) would be allowed to be transacted till that time.

Mr Chohan was taken into custody by the FIA on a complaint by Shehzad Akbar, the special assistant to prime minister on accountability, for running a ‘malicious’ campaign and delivering a ‘hate speech’ against him on social media platforms.

Earlier, police had arrested him on similar charges. He got a bail from court on Wednesday only to be detained by the FIA again.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2021