LAHORE: The Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmed Khan has suspended 26 opposition members for 15 sessions over disorderly conduct during assembly proceedings.

According to the Speaker, action was taken due to uproar, slogan chanting, scuffles, and tearing of official documents by the opposition members. He stated that the suspension was in response to violations of assembly rules and defiance of the Speaker’s rulings.

The speaker also announced that a reference will be sent against the suspended lawmakers for their behavior during the session.

The suspended members include: Malik Fahad Masood, Muhammad Tanveer Aslam, Syed Raffat Mahmood, Yasir Mahmood Qureshi, Kaleemullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmad Mujtaba Chaudhry, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismail, Khyal Ahmed, Shehbaz Ahmed, Tayyab Rasheed, Imtiaz Mahmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Rai Muhammad Murtaza, Khalid Zubair Nisar, Chaudhry Muhammad Ijaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Ameer, and Usama Asghar.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Speaker Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmed Khan announced to send a reference against 26 members of PTI and said that the reference against these members would be sent to the Election Commission of Paksitan(ECP) today.

He said that the sanctity and discipline of the House will be maintained at all costs, the right to protest is recognized but its limits are subject to the constitution, the law and the rules, they will not allow the system to be taken hostage.

The 26 opposition lawmakers for 15 days following their protest during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s presence in the House.