In Pakistan’s parliament, the deputy speaker was beaten by Imran’s party MPs
//Online News//
Lawmakers from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the political party of Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, have beaten up Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari during a session of the country’s Punjab Provincial Council.
Imran’s party MPs slapped, killed and threw bottles and flower tubs at him as he took the deputy speaker’s seat in the session for the election of the new Punjab chief minister, which began on Saturday.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s supporters attacked Mazari after he left the party. Television footage showed Mazari being slapped and punched by Imran’s party MPs. He was later rescued by members of the security forces.
PTI lawmakers brought lotus flowers to the Punjab Provincial Council session on Saturday. He left the PTI and started chanting “Lota” to the lawmakers who joined the opposition alliance. At one point they decided to sit in the opposition seat.
PTI lawmakers have said they will not allow the party’s 24 dissident members to vote in the chief ministerial election. The members of the no-confidence vote in Pakistan’s lower house of parliament against Imran Khan left the PTI and joined the opposition.
There has been a lot of competition in the Punjab Chief Ministerial election. According to the country’s Dawn media, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Hamza Shehbaz has been elected as the new chief minister of Punjab after a period of chaos and unrest. Earlier in the session, Imran’s party MPs attacked Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad. The PML-Q chief Chowdhury Parvez Elahi and several others were injured.
In the 361-seat Punjab Provincial Council, 18 votes were needed to be elected Chief Minister, but Hamza Shehbaz got 198 votes. Hamza won by a wide margin as the MPs who left Imran’s party voted.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) kept the 24 PTI MPs in a hotel for almost two weeks in the run-up to the Punjab chief ministerial election. The members were kept at the hotel so that they would not face any pressure from former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has condemned the attack on the Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Provincial Assembly.
