Speaker sets up ethics committee to address ‘deterioration of decorum’ in Punjab Assembly

Punjab Assembly (PA) Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan on Saturday announced the formation of an ethics committee to address the “deterioration of decorum” witnessed in the house in recent days.

“The [assembly] has been deteriorating day by day, the cause of which is the people inside it,” he said. “In these times, when [lawmakers] completely fall from ethical standards, when foul language is used, how will conduct be maintained in the house?”

The PA speaker’s remarks come a day after 11 opposition members were barred from attending the next 15 sittings of the house for resorting to “rowdyism” during the speech of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

The suspended MPAs, belonging to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council, are Zulfikar Ali, Shehbaz Ahmed, Muhammad Atif, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mahmood, Hafiz Farhat Abbas, Ejaz Shafi, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Amir, Osama Asghar Ali Gujjar and Asad Abbas.

They had used non-parliamentary and abusive language against the chief minister when she was recounting the achievements of her first 100-day rule in the province at the conclusion of the budget approval process.

Speaking to the media today, the PA speaker recounted how he had witnessed a deterioration in the conduct within the assembly of late. He stated that what was at first disruption in the form of sloganeering had now turned into “unfiltered abuses and obscenities”.

Malik wondered how proceedings in the house could continue in such an environment and cited four instances over the past few weeks when lawmakers abused each other.

Regarding the decision to bar some members from the house, the speaker said he used the assembly’s rules to maintain conduct in “every capacity”.

Announcing the formation of the ethics committee, Malik said it would overview the conduct of lawmakers from the day the assembly convened and ascertain how it was a “democratic obstruction”.

“The very book that gave you privileges has providence for the breach of those privileges. Take the trouble to read the book. You will understand that you are not standing at a chowk,” he said.

“I’m not saying that this house cannot be political, but you cannot take things to the point where you make politics about abusing and obscenities,” the speaker added.

Oppositions MPAs stage protest

A little after noon, opposition MPAs staged a protest at the entrance of the assembly against the speaker’s orders to bar them from the upcoming proceedings.

Videos from the site showed a large contingent of police vans parked outside the PA premises with only PML-N members allowed inside. However, opposition lawmakers forced their way inside while chanting anti-government slogans. Some also called for the release of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.

Talking to reporters, opposition leader Ahmad Khan Bhachar said he “will not bow” before the Punjab government, adding that the suspension of the 11 lawmakers was “unjust”.

“Until and unless our MPAs are allowed inside, we will stay here and hold our own assembly session,” Bhachar said. “If we can fight in there, we can fight out here too.”

He further alleged that the PA speaker’s decision was based on “prejudice”, adding that the opposition’s protests did not warrant suspensions.