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Friday March 29, 2024

Punjab Assembly oath-taking highlights

By Faizan Bangash
August 16, 2018

Mohsin Khan Leghari, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf legislator and staunch advocate of Southern Punjab province, became the first legislator to submit the first resolution in the Punjab Assembly that took oath on Wednesday.

Mohsin Khan Leghari, elected from PP-293, Rajanpur, on the ticket of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, soon after taking oath, submitted a resolution pressing the federal government to initiate the process of creation of Southern Punjab immediately.

Mohsin Leghari, who was first elected as MPA in 2003, has been strongly pleading the case of Southern Punjab province for the people living in the Seraiki belt of Punjab. As a token of expression of solidarity with the people of Southern Punjab, he sat in the upper section of the PA and constantly recorded his voice in support of a separate province. Mohsin Leghari was also elected MPA in 2008 and in 2012, and he also emerged victorious as a senator in the polls for the Upper House as independent candidate.

PTI Sikh MPA takes oath: Mahendar Pal Singh, a PTI MPA representing the Sikh community, also took oath along with 353 other members of the Punjab Assembly.

Mahender Pal Singh, also known as Veer Ji amongst the people of his community, hails from the city of Multan and is a strong believer in interfaith harmony. Talking to The News, he said that as a legislator, he would continue to raise his voice for the minorities and play his role in strengthening the interfaith harmony.

PML-N minority MPA enters wearing chains: A PML-N MPA elected from the seats reserved for minorities, Tariq Gill, lodged a protest in a unique way to express support with his party leader Mian Nawaz Sharif while covering himself with chains. Tariq Gill, who has returned to the PA once again, was initially not allowed to enter the premises of PA but when he entered to take oath, he was accorded warm welcome by the members of his party. However, outgoing Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan asked him to remove the chains from his body but he insisted that his leader was languishing in the in Adiala Jail.

Tariq Gill left the assembly premises when the Speaker didn’t allow him to seat with chains around his body. Sloganeering on arrival of Pervaiz Elahi: PML-N MPAs chanted vociferous slogans against former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi when he entered the premises of PA to take oath.

The former chief minister, who is now the joint candidate of PTI and PML-Q for the post of Speaker faced severe criticism from PML-N MPAs who kept chanting the slogans. However, on the intervention of senior leaders like Khawaja Saad Rafique, the PML-N MPAs stopped chanting the slogans. Later, Pervaiz Elahi and Abdul Aleem Khan spent time in the chamber of chief minister where they received greetings from the newly-elected members.