Petitioner pleads court to direct ECP for revoking NA Speaker’s membership.

ISLAMABAD    -   The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday reserved its verdict on admissibility of a petition against Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for allegedly damaging the national exchequer. A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq conducted hearing of the petition and reserved the verdict on maintainability of the petition after hearing arguments of the counsel for the petition. During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice remarked that the court would pass an appropriate order in this case. The petition was filed by a citizen Hafiz Osama Riaz through his counsel Riaz Hanif Rahi Advocate. The petitioner claimed that the ECC had approved Rs 750 million for the celebration pro­grams of Independence Day but most of the share of the said amount was spent on the diamond jubilee events organized by the National Assembly on the instruction of Raja Ashraf. The lawyer said that dur­ing the ceremony, under 14-years children delivered speeches while addressing the Speaker NA. The law­yer claimed that this activity was against the law. The petitioner said the speaker made foreign visits with a delegation of 25 Parliament members when the country was facing ravaging floods and other natural disasters. He pleaded the high court to direct the ECP to revoke his NA membership.