ECP says Afridi’s membership suspended since Oct

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahryar Afridi’s membership of National Assembly has been suspended since October.

Afridi on Thursday went up to the government’s benches and started a scuffle with Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is the current Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources.

During the session, PTI lawmakers led by Shah Mehmood Qureshi started chanting ‘thief, thief’ slogans in the house and stood up on their benches in protest, resulting in an exchange of slogans.

ECP today said that Afridi was among those 20 lawmakers whom haven’t submitted details about their assets and are suspended since October 15.

However, Afridi while refuting the statement, said that has received no notification from ECP regarding his suspension and had submitted the details on November 2.

Meanwhile, Speaker NA Ayaz Sadiq said that he had allowed Afridi to participate in the proceeding after getting a ‘verbal assurance’ from the lawmaker that he has submitted assets’ details.

Former Speaker NA Hamid Nasir Chitha said that a person whose membership has been suspended cannot participate in the proceedings.