Noor Alam Khan, a legislator from Peshawar who recently criticised his own party leadership on the National Assembly floor, was issued a show-cause notice by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday.
The party has given letters to Mr Khan, according to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, for allegedly “beating” his own party leaders on the floor of the house.
Mr Khan should have voiced his concerns in the party’s internal meetings rather than screaming against the PTI on the floor of the parliament in front of the media, according to a cabinet member.
The politician has also been diagnosed with Covid-19, which is a source of concern for anyone who has come into touch with him during recent lower house sessions.
Noor Alam Khan could have expressed concerns in internal meetings, according to the minister.
However, in an interview with Dawn, the MNA questioned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s notion of self-accountability, claiming that he had been handed a show-cause notice for “expressing the people’s concerns.”
During Friday’s session, Noor Alam Khan pointed at the top three rows of the National Assembly’s treasury and blamed them for the country’s mess. He had requested that all of those in the front benches, including Prime Minister Khan, be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), claiming that this was the only way to secure “Pakistan’s survival.”
Earlier this week, another prominent PTI figure, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, clashed with PM Khan at a gathering of the ruling coalition’s parliamentary parties.
Noor Alam Khan also brought up the subject of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPban )’s on new gas connections in general, and in his hometown of Peshawar in particular.
In a move that some have characterised as an attempt at damage management, Prime Minister Khan spent Monday in Peshawar talking with party leaders. He enumerated all of the development projects his government had begun in the province, which had previously been overlooked by prior regimes, while he was there.
Can members be sanctioned for speaking out against their own political parties? Parliamentarians who violate party discipline, such as voting against the party whip on critical occasions such as a vote of confidence or a money measure, would undoubtedly face consequences under the law. In such circumstances, the party leader can visit Pakistan’s Election Commission and request that parliament disqualify them. However, there is no legal barrier to expressing oneself on the floor of the house; in fact, all speeches spoken in parliament are considered protected speech and cannot be used as a foundation for legal action.
When contacted, Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib, who also serves as the party’s information secretary, claimed that a show-cause notice had been given to Noor Alam Khan, but that it had not yet been served on the MNA.
Mr Habib explained why he was giving notices to the Peshawar MNA, saying he had “publicly broken party rules.”
When asked if Mr Khan’s membership in the party had been suspended, the minister said he wasn’t sure, but he had been requested to provide a response. Noor Alam Khan, on the other hand, was adamant that he was merely voicing constituent concerns and queried how the party could present him with a show-cause notice for performing his job.
“On what basis can PTI Provincial President Pervez Khattak give me a show-cause notice when I’m talking about people’s problems?” he asked, inquiring if the prime minister’s anti-corruption and self-accountability narrative had changed.
He informed Dawn that he wished to respond to the show-cause notice on the floor of parliament, but that owing to his sickness, he couldn’t attend the current session.
