PTI seeks production orders for 'detained' MNAs as National Assembly to meet shortly

ISLAMABAD: With separate sessions of the Senate and National Assembly set to convene on Tuesday, PTI requested the NA speaker to issue production orders for its nine MNAs, who it says were detained. President Asif Ali Zardari had summoned the sessions after he and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif agreed on it during their weekend meeting on the country’s political and security situation. The sessions also follow the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for which the Centre cited the PTI-led provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against terrorism. In a letter to NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday, Chief Whip Amir Dogar claimed nine MNAs are “currently detained” and requested him to issue production orders for them to enable them to attend the 30th session starting today. The lawmakers comprised Haji Imtiaz Ahmad Choudhry (ΝΑ-68), Muhammad Jamal Ahsan Khan (NA-89), Mian Ghous Muhammad (ΝΑ-170), Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel (NΑ-91), Dawar Khan Kundi (NA-43), Junaid Akbar (NA-09), Amjad Ali Khan (NA-02), Fazal Muhammad Khan (ΝΑ-25) and Adil Khan Bazai (NA-262). “As the speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, the impartiality of your esteemed office requires that production orders be issued for all detained members, irrespective of their political affiliation, to ensure that no constituency remains unrepresented during the proceedings of the House,” the letter read. It requested Sadiq to issue the production orders under Rule 108 of the 2007 Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly. More to follow