National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khani Suri on Monday adjourned the session till today (Tuesday) afternoon as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislators surrounded his dais in protest for not allowing party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to speak in the National Assembly.
A strong protest was launched by the PPP lawmakers after the deputy speaker allowed Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad to speak instead of Bilawal.
Despite several warnings from the deputy speaker, the PPP members continued shouting slogans against the government and him.
Sheikh Rasheed warned that if he was not allowed to speak, he would not let anyone else to speak in the House as well. Sensing the rising friction, the deputy speaker adjourned the session.
Reacting to the development, Bilawal said that it was for the second time that the “MNAs from Jhelum and Rawalpindi” were preferred over an MNA from Larkana. “My voice has been censored again. Two federal ministers were preferred over me,” he said.
The protest came in the backdrop of the arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The NAB arrested Zardari in the fake bank accounts case from his residence in the federal capital.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif demanded that production orders should be issued to ensure Zardari’s presence in the House. Speaking in the National Assembly, Shehbaz said that Zardari had presented himself before the NAB on every occasion, so there was no need for his immediate arrest. He said Zardari never used delaying tactics and the NAB should have appreciated this. It is worth mentioning here that the FIA is investigating 32 people – including Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur – in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts.
On the other hand, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser chaired a meeting of the House Business Advisory Committee in the Parliament House on Monday to discuss the tentative schedule for the budget session of the National Assembly.
The meeting decided that the budget session would continue until June 29, 2019. It was decided that general discussion on the budget would be initiated from June 14, 2019 and the adviser to the PM on finance and revenue would wind up the general discussion on the budget, followed by discussion on appropriation in respect of charged expenditure 2019-2020 on June 25.
It was further decided that discussion and voting on cut motions and demand for grants in respect of voted expenditure 2019-2020 would be taken up on 26th and 27th of the month. It decided that the consideration and passage of Finance Bill 2019 would take place on June 28, 2019, whereas the discussion on supplementary demands for grants and appropriation 2018-19 in respect of charged and voted expenditure and laying of schedule of authorised expenditure 2018-2019 would take place on June 29.
The committee agreed that the sittings of the National Assembly would also be held on Saturday. The committee was informed that the question hour and other non-legislative business would remain suspended during the budget session.
The meeting was attended by ministers Syed Ijaz Shah, Ch Fawad Hussian, Pervaiz Khattak, Shafqat Mehmood, Azam Khan Swati, Sherin Mehrunissa Mazari, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, MNAs Malik Amir Dogar, Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan, Khalid Khan Magsi, Riaz Fatayna, Hasan Baloch and Shazia Marri.
