LAHORE: Punjab Assembly members on Wednesday expressed their anger over the failure of the Gymkhana Club to present the record of its lease agreement and payment of rent to the special committee of the house.

Irked by the resistance of the Gymkhana administration to furnish the record to the assembly, MPAs from both sides of the aisle showed their dismay.

Treasury MPA Iftikhar Chhachar moved a bill to develop a park for citizens on the lands of the Gymkhana Club as the chair wondered why the club was being given so much concession and forwarded the bill to the relevant committee for vetting it.

The session began with a delay of one hour and 39 minutes. At the beginning of the session, opposition member Mian Ijaz Shafi raised the point that the opposition had submitted 300 adjournment motions in the house but these were not allowed to be taken up by the house.

The directed that the issue should be discussed in the standing committee on law.

Earlier, PTI lawmakers, led by opposition leader Ahmad Khan Bhachar, recorded a protest for the release of the party founder and other leaders. They chanted slogans in favour of their leaders and demanded their immediate release.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan indirectly requested the opposition PTI not to protest on Feb 8 as a meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is going to take place at the Punjab Assembly the same day. Highlighting the importance of the event, he said that “such a meeting was going to be held after two decades but I have learnt that the opposition has also planned a protest on the same day.

“Though protest is the democratic right of the opposition, it should see that the CPA is being held for the province.”

Later, the chair adjourned the house sine die.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2025