ISLAMABAD, June 5: Maintaining the old tradition, five opposition members of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) have submitted an application to the National Assembly Secretariat demanding of Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain to issue the production order for jailed leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi for the budget session commencing on Wednesday.

According to ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi, the application has been signed by three members of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and two members of the PML-N.

Those who have signed the application are PPP’s Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Syed Khurshid Shah and Raja Pervez Ashraf and acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Khwaja Mohammad Asif.

The ARD members have requested the speaker to issue the necessary production order for Mr Hashmi, who is detained in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, to enable him to represent his constituency (NA-123, Lahore) on the floor of the National Assembly during the budget session.

Mr Hashmi is presently undergoing 23-year imprisonment in a treason case and his appeal against the conviction has been pending before the higher court for the last about two years.

Hashmi, who is the president of the ARD and acting president of the PML-N, was picked up by the police and agencies personnel on October 29, 2003 from the Parliament Lodges and his in-camera trial under treason charge was carried out inside Adiala Jail.