LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Monday adopted with a majority vote a resolution seeking action against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif under Article 6 of the Constitution for consulting a ‘fugitive’ on the appointment of a new army chief and other ‘sensitive’ national issues.

The resolution tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat quotes media reports as suggesting that Prime Minister Sharif consulted a fugitive in London on sensitive national issues, including the appointment of the army chief.

It says the prime minister’s oath prevents him from sharing sensitive matters with an unrelated person.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself is an accused in many cases. By taking this step, the prime minister of an imported government was found guilty of violating the constitutional provisions. Therefore, action should be taken against the prime minister under Articles 5 and 6,” the resolution says.

House condemns federal ministers for invoking religious card

Raja Basharat also read in the house the constitutional oath for the prime minister. He announced that apart from the resolution, further steps would be taken to initiate action against Shehbaz Sharif under Articles 5 and 6.

He wondered that the prime minister met a fugitive in the London flat, which was mentioned in the Panama scandal and a case had also been registered against him because of the property.

The House adopted another resolution against PML-N MNAs Javed Lateef and Marriyum Aurangzeb for delivering a hateful speech against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, while the managing director of the state-run TV was accused of airing the speech.

Home Minister Hashim Dogar, who tabled the resolution, said that the house strongly condemns the use of the religion card in the country as the resolution said that Mr Lateef, Ms Aurangzeb and PTV MD would be responsible if any harm was caused to Imran Khan.

Both the treasury and opposition members raised slogans of shame against each other when the resolution was moved into the house.

Meanwhile, Speaker Sibtain Khan formed a two-member committee to take a decision on the anomaly of holding two separate (budget) sessions of the house – one was held at the assembly building by then speaker Parvez Elahi and the other at a close-by state building by then chief minister Hamza Shehbaz in the month of June and July.

The committee comprises Raja Basharat and PML-N chief whip Khalil Tahir Sandhu.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022