Pakistan

NA Speaker Sadiq suspends five security officials over arrests from parliament

Published by

Digital Desk

2 years ago

ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq has suspended five NA security officials including the sergeant-at-arms, days after PTI parliamentarians were arrested from the house premises.

Taking a punitive measure, the Speaker has suspended Sergeant-at-Arms Muhammad Ashfaq Ashraf, a BPS-20 officer, for a period of 120 days over negligence in the security of the Parliament House.

According to an office order issued by the NA secretariat today, “During the period of his suspension, Sergeant-at-Arms will be entitled to draw pay and allowances as admissible under the applicable rules.”

In a separate notice, the suspension orders of four other security personnel were also issued for 120 days, allowing them to draw pay and allowances as admissible under the applicable rules.

The suspended security staff included a Security Assistant Waqas Ahmed (grade-14 official) as well as three junior security assistants (grade-9 officials) — namely Obaidullah, Muhammad Waheed Safdar, and Muhammad Haroon

The suspensions come after Speaker Ayaz Sadiq formed a committee over the arrests of PTI lawmakers from the Parliament House headed by Additional Secretary Iftikhar Naumani. Other members of the committee include joint secretaries Asadullah Khan and Rizwanullah. Acting Sergeant-at-Arms Raja Farhat Abbas has also been co-opted in the committee.

On Tuesday, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq taking notice of the matter, called an emergency meeting in his chamber and sought footage from all entry gates of the Parliament House for evidence-based action.

During the deliberations with parliamentary leaders including Ali Muhammad Khan, Shandana Gulzar, Rana Sanaullah, Khurshid Shah, and others, the Speaker called IG Islamabad Syed Nasir Rizvi and demanded the immediate release of PTI MNAs.

During the meeting, he said there would be no compromise on the dignity and prestige of parliament and decided to formulate measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in the future.

Digital Desk