Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly turned into a battle zone on Saturday after Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers manhandled Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari and threw lotas (pitchers) at him.
According to the reports, Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari was attacked with ‘lotas’ by members of PTI seated at the treasury benches on Sunday as he arrived to chair the assembly session that was convened to elect a new chief minister.
The PTI lawmakers of the ruling party, who opposed the election, threw ‘lotas’ at Mazari, attacked him and pulled his hair despite the presence of security guards.
The videos of the incident have gone viral on social media platforms. The angry PTI lawmakers disrupted the house and attacked Deputy Speaker amidst the presence of security guards. The guards were seen trying to save Mazari from being manhandled by the PTI members.
In another video, it was seen that ‘lotas’ were thrown at Mazar as he entered the Punjab assembly.
Following the scuffle, Mazari reportedly left the House. The Punjab Assembly session was scheduled to start at 11:30 am to elect chief minister Punjab with PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in the run. However, it was delayed due to the unruly behaviour of the PTI lawmakers.
PML-N had elected Hamza Shehbaz as the new Punjab Chief Minister
Earlier on April 7, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had held a Punjab assembly session of their own at a hotel to elect a new Punjab chief minister.
After the Punjab Assembly building in Pakistan was locked and sealed off with barbed wires amidst all the political drama in the country, the opposition lawmakers, led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, had elected Hamza Shehbaz as the Punjab chief minister at a session held in a private hotel in Lahore.
The legitimacy of the election is at stake as the session was held outside the Punjab Assembly and was attended only by opposition lawmakers. Punjab Assembly speaker Parvez Elahi and Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari were not present during the ‘assembly session’ called by PML-N lawmakers. Interestingly, the Punjab Assembly secretariat has not issued any notifications regarding the session or venue change or the so-called election that elected Hamza as the chief minister of Punjab.
The session was instead presided over by PPP MPA Shazia Abid. Abid claimed that she was appointed to the panel of chairmen for the 40th session of the Punjab Assembly on April 3.
This had come after joint opposition in Pakistan led by PPP and PML-N had held a mock session inside the National Assembly on Sunday after Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri ended up the actual session.