ISLAMABAD: The Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sought on Monday comments from National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on a petition seeking disqualification of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

An ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissio­ner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza and comprising Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, retired Justices Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, Irshad Qaiser and Shakeel Baloch, took up the petition filed by one Anwar Kamal.

The petitioner sought Mr Achakzai’s disqualification as MNA for criticising security agencies after the Aug 8 suicide attack in Quetta.

Taking part in a debate in the National Assembly last week on the law and order situation, the PkMAP chief had blamed the security agencies for their failure to prevent the blast.

“Our agencies can even find needles from the dirt and now they should also do this job,” he said, adding that merely holding the Indian intelligence agency RAW responsible for the attack was not enough.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan strongly reacted to Mr Achakzai’s remarks and forcefully defended the security agencies.

Legal experts, however, wonder how the ECP could take up a disqualification plea against remarks made in parliament.

Barrister Afzal Hussain was of the opinion that no proceedings could be initiated against a parliamentarian for anything he said during parliamentary proceedings.

He referred to Article 66 of the Constitution which reads: “Subject to constitution and to the rules of procedure of parliament, there shall be freedom of speech in the parliament, and no member shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything he said or any vote given by him in the parliament.”

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2016