Punjab Assembly passes 21 bills amid treasury, Opp face-off.

LAHORE -- The government passed 21 bills in the Punjab Assembly amid protest by the opposition that was demanding Chief Minister Parvez Elahi first take a vote of confidence as per the directions of the governor.

Neither the chief minister took the trust vote nor was the matter on the agenda for the day.

As proceedings of the house resumed around three hours later than its scheduled time of 2pm after a break of 16 days on Monday, the opposition parties, the PML-N and PPP, demanded that Parvez Elahi should take a trust vote before any other business of the assembly.

Notwithstanding shouting by the opposition benches when Speaker Sibtain Khan took up Question Hour, the PML-N and PPP MPAs assembled before the dais of the speaker and began raising slogans, demanding that Mr Elahi must take a vote of confidence. They also flew paper planes made of copies of the agenda for the day.

The treasury also responded to the sloganeering of the opposition and the situation led to mayhem in the house. The ruling party's MPA Rana Shehbaz demanded the arrest of Attaullah Tarar, the special assistant to the prime minister, who was sitting in the visitor's gallery as the PML-N leader was wanted by the Privileges Committee of the assembly.

PTI leader Asad Umar, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and other PML-N leaders were also present in the gallery.

Opp demands Elahi take trust vote; terms assembly proceedings illegal

Amid protest by the opposition, the treasury introduced and passed 21 bills though PML-N MPA Rana Mashhood asserted that the proceedings were illegal as the cabinet stood dissolved as per orders of the governor. He...