LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed the Punjab chief secretary and the inspector general (IG) to provide security to the PA lawmakers in its verdict on appeals filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders against the harassment of the party members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) ahead of the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) elections.
It is worth nothing that interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday said that not just five but 50 members of PTI may go against Pervaiz Elahi in Chief Minister Punjab Election on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, he said that if Punjab Assembly (PA) members were sensible and their “conscience was alive”, they would never vote for PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi in the chief minister’s election on Friday.
In its verdict, the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the Punjab chief secretary and the inspector general (IG) to provide security to the PA lawmakers. The high court issued orders to ensure the arrangements for the MPAs to cast their votes in the Punjab CM elections without any difficulty. The government lawyer will ensure the implementation of the court orders besides informing the parties.
The verdict was given on the appeals of PTI leaders Sibtain Khan and Zainab Umar against the harassment of the party MPAs.
It must be noted here that PTI had levelled allegations of horse trading and harassment of its MPAs by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)
Several PTI lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly had complained about receiving threatening calls for changing the loyalties in the forthcoming CM polls scheduled on July 22 (tomorrow).
Earlier in the day, two more PTI MPAs claimed to have received threatening calls forcing to change their loyalties before the election of the Punjab chief minister.
PTI MPA from Punjab Assembly on reserved seat Fozia Batool said she received a ‘threatening call’ ahead of the Punjab CM election, forcing her to change her loyalty.
Meanwhile, Saira Raza, another PTI MPA on a reserved seat has also received ‘threats’ ahead of the crucial polling, PTI sources claimed. Both the MPAs are currently residing in a hotel, located in Lahore.
