LAHORE: The Punjab government of Shahbaz Sharif has indirectly been warned by its treasury benches to be careful while holding protests against the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on load shedding, saying that people have been becoming violent and there was a chance of a civil disobedience.
They said that nobody would be able to stop the outrageous protests later, not even the government itself. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) demanded the speaker, as custodian of the House, to summon the inquiry report of the judicial commission about the dissipatedness of Arsalan Iftikhar, a son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in Monaco.
The Punjab Assembly’s budget session started 45 minutes late from its schedule time at 3pm under the chairmanship of Speaker Rana Iqbal on Monday. After recitation of verses from the holy Quran and the Naat, the House offered fateha for the eternal peace of the late parliamentarian Fauzia Wahab.
After the prayer, PML-Q’s vocal female member Samina Khawar Hayyat stood on her bench and, on a point of order, raised the issue of Arsalan Iftikhar – calling him Arsalan “Shahzada” (prince) – and said that she could prove his corruption with documental evidence.
To back her arguments, she also waved some documents, including a report published by a journalist, against Arsalan. She demanded the speaker to let her read the report in the House, but he denied the request, saying that the matter was sub judice so it could not be discussed in the Punjab Assembly.
The speaker muted her microphone, on which she strongly protested along with some other colleagues and demanded the chair to allow her to make the report public so that people could be informed how Arslan Iftikhar spent 10,000 euros in gambling and other profligateness during his visit to Monaco.
However, the speaker instead allowed parliamentary secretary Tahir Khalil Sindhu to speak on the same issue.
In response, the opposition started disrupting the environment of the House, while some treasury members, including Rana Arshad, Ali Asghar Manda and Tanveer Nasir, started making hue and cry on the floor.
Meanwhile, Tahir Sindhu informed the House that the Supreme Court had constituted a two-member commission and authorised the attorney general of Pakistan, who belongs to the PPP, to file his investigation report on the Arsalan issue. He said that if Samina had some proofs or any report, she must appear before the commission. Following the same stance, Asghar Ali Manda of the PML-N also said on a point of order that it was not a proper platform to address the issue, so she should take the ‘evidence’ to the commission.
On this, Samina walked out from the House in protest, saying that it (assembly) was a superior forum to address any sensitive matter. She also said that it was strange that a parent was claiming to be unaware of his son’s activities, while the entire world knew them. After a few seconds, she ended her boycott and rejoined the session.
Meanwhile, PPP’s female legislator Sajida Mir, to calm down the situation, on a point of order requested the House to offer fateha for the mother of an MPA, Talat Yaqoob, who passed away two days ago.
Later, the House adopted budget speeches, in which some parliamentarians from the opposition and treasury benches, including PPP’s Tahir Hundali, group leader of PML-Q’s dissident members Atta Manika, PML-Q’s Dr Samia Amjad and treasury member Ejaz Ahmad Khan, participated and gave suggestions to improve the budget.
Atta Manika, though an ally of the PML-N government in Punjab, warned Shahbaz Sharif without taking his name that the protests led by the government authorities should be avoided, as people were getting violent on the issue of load shedding, and a “civil-war-like situation” could develop in the province. He warned that some time ago, Mumtaz Doltana as chief minister had done the same thing by patronising a movement against Ahmedis, but the issue turned violent and no one was able control it.
He stated that such a situation could reappear if the protests against the PPP on load shedding were not controlled. Later, the finance minister delivered a concluding speech on budget.
They said that nobody would be able to stop the outrageous protests later, not even the government itself. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) demanded the speaker, as custodian of the House, to summon the inquiry report of the judicial commission about the dissipatedness of Arsalan Iftikhar, a son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in Monaco.
The Punjab Assembly’s budget session started 45 minutes late from its schedule time at 3pm under the chairmanship of Speaker Rana Iqbal on Monday. After recitation of verses from the holy Quran and the Naat, the House offered fateha for the eternal peace of the late parliamentarian Fauzia Wahab.
After the prayer, PML-Q’s vocal female member Samina Khawar Hayyat stood on her bench and, on a point of order, raised the issue of Arsalan Iftikhar – calling him Arsalan “Shahzada” (prince) – and said that she could prove his corruption with documental evidence.
To back her arguments, she also waved some documents, including a report published by a journalist, against Arsalan. She demanded the speaker to let her read the report in the House, but he denied the request, saying that the matter was sub judice so it could not be discussed in the Punjab Assembly.
The speaker muted her microphone, on which she strongly protested along with some other colleagues and demanded the chair to allow her to make the report public so that people could be informed how Arslan Iftikhar spent 10,000 euros in gambling and other profligateness during his visit to Monaco.
However, the speaker instead allowed parliamentary secretary Tahir Khalil Sindhu to speak on the same issue.
In response, the opposition started disrupting the environment of the House, while some treasury members, including Rana Arshad, Ali Asghar Manda and Tanveer Nasir, started making hue and cry on the floor.
Meanwhile, Tahir Sindhu informed the House that the Supreme Court had constituted a two-member commission and authorised the attorney general of Pakistan, who belongs to the PPP, to file his investigation report on the Arsalan issue. He said that if Samina had some proofs or any report, she must appear before the commission. Following the same stance, Asghar Ali Manda of the PML-N also said on a point of order that it was not a proper platform to address the issue, so she should take the ‘evidence’ to the commission.
On this, Samina walked out from the House in protest, saying that it (assembly) was a superior forum to address any sensitive matter. She also said that it was strange that a parent was claiming to be unaware of his son’s activities, while the entire world knew them. After a few seconds, she ended her boycott and rejoined the session.
Meanwhile, PPP’s female legislator Sajida Mir, to calm down the situation, on a point of order requested the House to offer fateha for the mother of an MPA, Talat Yaqoob, who passed away two days ago.
Later, the House adopted budget speeches, in which some parliamentarians from the opposition and treasury benches, including PPP’s Tahir Hundali, group leader of PML-Q’s dissident members Atta Manika, PML-Q’s Dr Samia Amjad and treasury member Ejaz Ahmad Khan, participated and gave suggestions to improve the budget.
Atta Manika, though an ally of the PML-N government in Punjab, warned Shahbaz Sharif without taking his name that the protests led by the government authorities should be avoided, as people were getting violent on the issue of load shedding, and a “civil-war-like situation” could develop in the province. He warned that some time ago, Mumtaz Doltana as chief minister had done the same thing by patronising a movement against Ahmedis, but the issue turned violent and no one was able control it.
He stated that such a situation could reappear if the protests against the PPP on load shedding were not controlled. Later, the finance minister delivered a concluding speech on budget.
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