Lahore(The COW News Digital)The Punjab Assembly witnessed intense drama on Friday as Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was delivering her speech. Opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings with loud slogans, tearing up agenda papers and throwing them towards the treasury benches. In response, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan ordered the suspension of 26 opposition members.
Invoking Assembly Rule 210(3), the Speaker announced that the suspended members would be barred from attending the next 15 sessions. Among the suspended lawmakers are Malik Fahd Masood, Tanveer Aslam, Ijaz Shafi, Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood, Kaleemullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Mujtaba Chaudhry, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismail, Khayal Ahmad Kastro, Shahbaz Ahmad, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Rai Murtaza, Khalid Zubair, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmad, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Amir, and Usama Ali Gujar.
The opposition’s protest reportedly began shortly after CM Maryam Nawaz took the floor. According to eyewitnesses, members chanted slogans, disrupted the agenda, and used unparliamentary language. Some even tore official documents and hurled them across the floor, leading to a complete halt of the session.
In response to the suspensions, opposition MPA Ijaz Shafi stated, “Peaceful protest is our constitutional right. The Speaker cannot suppress dissent by using force.” Another suspended member, Imtiaz Ali, accused the Speaker of partisanship, claiming that “he only listens to the government’s side.” Shoaib Amir sarcastically commented, “When a TikToker Chief Minister barely visits the Assembly, protests are inevitable.”
Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan defended the decision, saying the lawmakers had crossed all limits. “There is a boundary even in protest. We must uphold the sanctity and discipline of this Assembly at all costs,” he said, adding that all actions must be within the framework of the Constitution and parliamentary norms.
He further cited global parliamentary practices to justify the disciplinary action, terming the protest behavior “unparliamentary and unacceptable.”
The incident has further deepened tensions between the ruling party and the opposition, marking a new chapter in the volatile political atmosphere of Punjab’s legislature.
