LAHORE – The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) is moving the court of law on Tuesday (today) to restrain the MQM from playing the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly as well as to seek the contempt of court proceedings against speaker for not obeying the earlier passed order by the Sindh High Court vis-à-vis appointing the F-League nominee as opposition leader in the House.
Through the contempt of court petition, the SHC will be informed by the PML-F and others that the earlier passed order by the highest court of the province to appoint the opposition leader in Sindh Assembly within 10 days had not been complied with despite the fact that F-League being the largest opposition party in the House, had named MPA Nusrat Bano for this purpose.
The petition will also highlight the current situation wherein right of PML-F to have the slot of opposition leader in Sindh Assembly is being suppressed through manipulation by PPP and the MQM. The petition will spotlight the method adopted by the said two parties to keep the petitioner out of the consultative process for the appointment of caretaker chief minister and the interim setup for the upcoming elections in Sindh which will be installed through a mutual agreement between the chief minister and the leader of the opposition.
The other petition is being moved by Nusrat Bano before the Supreme Court invoking the original jurisdiction of the court. Spotlighting the current political situation and the game-plan to deny her office of the opposition leader, the petitioner will pray to the court to direct the speaker provincial assembly and the secretary assembly to perform their constitutional duties to notify her for the said slot which has been lying vacant despite the SHC directions.
On contact, senior vice president of the PML-F, Muhammad Ali Durrani, confirmed moving of both the pleas at legal forums on Tuesday. He said other parties also stand with them on their right to the seat of the opposition leader.
Durrani, a former federal minister who has strongly been advocating the restoration of Bahawalpur Province, about a question of PPP government’s push for Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab province, said the government’s move has run out of steam after main political parties have refused to support BJP. He also doubted presentation of a bill on the BJP which the PPP has announced to do before dissolution of the assemblies and said, the PPP was only playing political gimmick to get a slogan for the next elections. He said there was no way other than restoring Bahawalpur Province on which the Punjab Assembly had passed resolutions that had constitutional bindings on the federal government for implementation.