LAHORE: Speaker Punjab Assembly is reported to have written a letter to President Dr Arif Alvi, formally requesting him to remove Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman following his move of denotifying Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.
According to multiple media reports, the request by Speaker Sibtain Khan came just after Governor Punjab Baligur Rahman’s move, denotifying Pervaiz Elahi for, what he called, his failure to take vote of confidence within the given time.
Punjab Minister for Environment Protection and Parliamentary Affairs Basharat Raja was quoted as saying that under Article 101(3), the president had the authority to remove the governor.
He said in the letter written for the removal, the speaker had also complained about the governor’s behaviour. “He has also pointed out the unconstitutional measures of the governor and requested the president to ensure that the governor does not take further unconstitutional steps,” Basharat Raja was quoted as saying.
It may be recalled that on Monday, Governor Rehman directed Punjab chief minister to seek a vote of confidence on December 21. The governor’s direction came after the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also filed a no-confidence motion against Elahi in a bid to forestall the dissolution of the provincial assembly scheduled for Friday (today), as per announcement made by Chairman PTI Imran Khan at the end of his Long March on November 17.
On Tuesday, Speaker Sibtain Khan, who was chairing the Punjab Assembly session, adjourned the sitting until Friday (today) instead of Wednesday as directed by the governor. The speaker said that the governor’s letter asking the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence was against the assembly rules as well as the Constitution.
