LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan on Monday defended his recent move to seek the disqualification of 26 PTI MPAs for their “unparliamentary conduct”, saying he was fulfilling his responsibility to uphold the Constitution.
On June 27, the speaker ordered the suspension of 26 opposition MPAs for 15 sittings of the provincial legislature after their protests disrupted Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s speech and caused chaos in the house. Days later, he filed a disqualification reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan against them.
Out of those MPAs, 17 were listed as belonging to the Sunni Ittehad Council, which PTI-affiliated candidates joined last year after their party was deprived of its election symbol. At least eight others, however, were stated as PTI MPAs.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore today, Malik stressed that his responsibility was to uphold the Constitution and he did not discriminate against any party.
“I am someone who brings things into my domain. I will accept criticism wholeheartedly, but while doing the calculations, while having a conversation.”
The speaker questioned the criticism against him from the opposition and the media , which suggested that the speaker did not have the authority to file such a reference.
“Many credible names in journalism who have a biblical position, […] editorials were written as well that a Constitutional red line must be there, and not a party leadership red line ,” Malik noted.
“It was also written that it is an extreme step ,” the speaker added, apparently referring to a Dawn editorial.
“It was further written that jurists think that the speaker does not reserve the right to approach the election commission,” Malik said.
The speaker highlighted he wanted to address the matter and the relevant laws, considering “such a huge editorial was written [and] such respected people were voicing their opinion on the media, including anchorpersons”.
Malik emphasised he had always tried to present himself as a “custodian”, with an understanding of his Constitutional responsibilities.
“If, as a speaker, the opposition believes I am a custodian and must protect their rights, should I not also give the same right to the treasury benches to be heard, to speak? […] Is that not their right?”
The speaker strongly rejected the allegations that the move to disqualify the MPAs was a means of silencing the opposition, saying that he “prioritised every point of the opposition […] at every opportunity”. “I have given them their due.”
He asserted he made every effort to ensure the opposition members were given as much time as possible to speak and that their rights were respected, adding, “I am not a man who steals the right to representation in assemblies.”
Malik recognised the MPAs’ right to protest under the Constitution, but said that it did not override his rights: “You cannot say vandalism is your absolute right or obstructing the house is your absolute right.”
The PML-N leader stressed that this applied regardless of party affiliation.
Malik acknowledged that assemblies and parliaments often featured scuffles and raised voices, rejecting the notion that a speaker had to take a “draconian position” against these. However, he stressed the need for this fighting to have limits.
“I have been in this House for two decades,” Malik said, adding that during that period he had never heard a finance minister — of any government — make a budget speech without being met with “noise, budget books being torn, uproar in the assembly, even attacks on the finance minister”.
Ten Punjab MPAs, including six who were suspended, have been fined Rs203,550 each for allegedly damaging public property during the June 16 session, when opposition members had tried to interrupt the budget speech by Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.
“Will a finance minister not be able to make a speech for 22 years?” Malik said.
“Will any leader of the House […] ever have the right to speak here? Will their freedom of expression here become [suppressed] and will only the expression of the ones causing an uproar be treated as the right to protest?
“Will this be the order of the day? Will this be a new normal?”
The speaker further said: “If the leader of the House wants to speak, even if he was [PTI Founder] Imran Khan, should my party members obstruct him? I don’t support this. I only recognise one point: that you have taken an oath, that you will uphold the proceedings of the assembly according to the rules.”
