ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday urged National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar to make sure participation of every under-custody parliamentarian in the sessions.
In an open letter to the speaker, the ex-petroleum minister said that he has always stressed on timely issuance of production orders of the arrested MNAs however, nothing has been done in this regard so far.
Abbasi argued, “As members of the National Assembly, through his inherent right as a chosen representative of the people of Pakistan, only has one basic privilege; to be able to attend the proceedings of the house to exercise the will and aspirations of the people of his constituency.”
“It is the fundamental and inherent responsibility of the speaker of the National Assembly, as the elected custodian of the house, to ensure that members are able to attend the proceedings of the house unhindered and to ensure that any obstacles to their attendance are removed.”
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi further demanded to indiscriminately issue production orders of all the detained members so that they can also attend the assembly meetings.
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The PML-N leader gave examples as an illustration of the issue and said, “The last session of the National Assembly was summoned to meet on July 29, 2019; my production orders were issued on August 5, 2019. The joint sitting was summoned to meet on August 6, 2019; my production orders were received after the second session had started on August 7, 2019.”
On July 18, 2019, the anti-corruption watchdog had arrested Shahid Khaqan Abbasi near Thokar Niaz Baig toll plaza in connection with an ongoing investigation into the ‘illegal’ award of the LNG contract with Qatar.(INP)
