LAHORE, June 18: The Punjab government’s reported offer to the Faisalabad bar for canceling the June 16 reception for the chief justice of Pakistan echoed in the provincial assembly on Monday.

Rana Sanaullah told the house on Monday that the government had promised the establishment of a Lahore High Court bench in Faisalabad in return for canceling the reception. He said Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja had spearheaded the campaign on behalf of the Punjab government in run-up to the CJ visit.

Mr Rana accused Speaker Ch Muhammad Afzal Sahi of partiality by claiming that one such meeting was reportedly held at his office. “If right, the impartiality of the speaker’s office has been compromised.”

Responding to the accusations, the speaker said that he always wanted a high court bench at Faisalabad and had been pleading the case with the law minister and the chief minister.

No action: The issue of arresting the daughter of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) worker Aziz Pehlwan in Faisalabad reverberated in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

Sheikh Ijaz Ahmed, member of the Provincial Assembly from Faisalabad, reminded the law minister the erring station house officer (SHO) and the assistant superintendent of police (ASP) had not been suspended yet despite his promise on the floor that action would be taken against the police officials.

Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja, however, told Mr Ahmed he would respond to the question in the meeting of the advisory committee, but the opposition kept insisting for reply on the floor of the house.

On a point of order, Mr Ahmed said the police went to arrest the son of the PML-N worker who had died a few years ago, in its recent drive to arrest political workers. When it did not find the son of the late Aziz, it arrested his young daughter, whose wedding is to be held in a fortnight. Though the wife of Mr Aziz’s son asked police to arrest her in place of her sister-in-law, police refused. He said the minister has promised in the house to suspend the SHO and the ASP. Both of them were still working in their capacities, he said. —Staff Reporter