The four opposition MPAs – Ansar Iqbal (under suspension), who was chairperson of the Standing Committee on Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education; Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal (under suspension), chairperson of the Standing Committee on Management and Professional Development; Saima Kanwal (under suspension), chairperson of the Standing Committee on Special Education and Muhammad Ahsan Ali, chairperson of the Standing Committee on Colonies – were officially removed from their posts.
The Punjab Assembly adopted the respective motions for their ouster.
The decisions were finalised during meetings of the respective standing committees held on Monday, where the motions for removal were discussed and voted on.
As proceedings began in the House, treasury lawmakers welcomed the removals, applauding the move as a necessary corrective. Government legislators framed the action as a step toward reinforcing parliamentary decorum and curbing the opposition’s disrespectful and disruptive conduct.
PML-N MPA Amjad Ali Javed said that Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan had gone out of his way to accommodate the opposition, despite repeated provocations. “The speaker has upheld democratic traditions in the House traditions that had long been missing,” he said.
Outside the assembly building, Opposition Leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar condemned the dismissals and said the House was being run not in accordance with the law but at the whim of a single family.
He questioned the rationale behind suspending only 26 MPAs over their protest during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s speech. “Why only 26? We all protested. We all should have been suspended,” he said.
Bhachar declared that the opposition would not remain silent and vowed to raise their voice on every available forum against what he termed “this injustice”.
He also cast doubt on the neutrality of the speaker, accusing him of running the House in a partisan manner, in violation of established rules.
Opposition lawmakers gathered outside the assembly building, chanting slogans against the PML-N-led government and decrying what they described as undemocratic conduct.