Lahore, July 22, 2025: Acting Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Zahid Iqbal Channar, on Tuesday ordered the immediate reinstatement of 26 suspended opposition lawmakers, emphasizing that their return would contribute to a healthier democratic process.
“Even I’m not enjoying it without the opposition members,” Channar remarked during the session, highlighting the importance of opposition voices in ensuring meaningful parliamentary debate. He directed the Secretariat to issue a notification for the lawmakers’ return to the assembly floor without delay.
The 26 PTI-backed members were initially suspended on June 27, after staging a noisy protest during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s speech. The session descended into chaos as opposition lawmakers surrounded the speaker’s dais, chanted slogans, and allegedly damaged public property.
In response, then-Speaker Malik Ahmed Khan suspended the members for 15 sittings and imposed fines of Rs200,000 each on 10 MPAs for vandalism. Disqualification references were also submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan against all 26 lawmakers for “unparliamentary conduct.”
However, in a significant shift, the Punjab Assembly formally rejected the disqualification petitions two days ago, following successful negotiations between the government and the opposition. In a written ruling, the speaker noted that his role was not merely to act as a “postman” forwarding complaints, cautioning that bypassing due scrutiny could harm the constitutional balance and restrict freedom of expression in the house.
He clarified that while parliamentary decorum must be upheld, allegations involving serious legal or constitutional violations—such as oath violations—must first be proven in a competent court or tribunal.
The reinstated opposition MPAs include:
Malik Farhad Masood, Muhammad Tanveer Aslam, Syed Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood Qureshi, Kaleem Ullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmad Mujtaba Chaudhary, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismael, Khayal Ahmad, Shahbaz Ahmad, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, Khalid Zubair Nisar, Ch. Muhammad Ejaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Rana Aourang Zaib, Shuaib Ameer, and Usama Asghar Ali Gujjar.
Separately, 10 of these lawmakers were fined Rs203,550 each based on video evidence showing acts of vandalism, including the destruction of microphones. Those fined include:
Chaudhary Javed Kausar, Asad Abbas, Tanveer Aslam, Riffat Mehmood, Muhammad Ismael, Shahbaz Ahmad, Imtiaz Mehmood, Khalid Zubair, Rana Aourang Zaib, and Muhammad Ahsan Ali.
The reinstatement is being viewed as a move towards political reconciliation and functional parliamentary proceedings, amid growing concerns over polarization and disruptions in the legislative process.
