Brawl dominated the session of the National Assembly (NA) on Thursday as the Speaker refused to let PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal deliver a speech. The outraged members from the opposition benches gathered in front of the speaker’s dais and tossed accusations at each other, but stopped short of coming to blows.
The Deputy Speaker of the NA, Qasim Suri, strongly responded to the matter, and said: “The House is not for you all to deliver speeches and go home.”
Earlier in the session, Minister for Communications Murad Saeed lashed out at the political rivals of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and pointed out their corrupt practices in the former governments.
While the opposition members condemned the arrest of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) politician Khurshid Shah by the anti-graft body, Saeed stated that the chairman of the bureau was appointed by the previous government itself with the consultation of PPP.
He recalled that it was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP, which had accused each other of corruption, and said: “The PML-N once talked of dragging Zardari and mocked Khurshid Shah as a ‘meter reader’.”
Moreover, the minister said that instead of making hue and cry on the arrest of their leaders, the opposition parties should raise the voice for the rights of Kashmiris.
“We should give a message that the entire nation and the parliament stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their Kashmiri brethren.”
Saeed said that it was the first time that Hindutva face of India has been unmasked by Pakistan at the international level. He said the world today has been supporting Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir dispute.
The minister pointed out the ongoing intense situation in occupied Kashmir and added that the people were short of medicines, foods and other essential commodities. “Kashmiris are looking towards Pakistan [for help] – but when they observe that these parliamentarians are crying for themselves in the House, they are disappointed.”
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties staged a protest outside the Parliament House in Islamabad against continuous detentions and non-issuance of production orders of the detainees.
“PTI-led government has paralyzed the parliament. Members of the opposition are being persecuted on baseless and trumped-up charges,” said PML-N leader Khawaja Asif.
“Instead of real accountability, this government is more interested in conducting media trials of its political opponents. The PTI wants to run the assembly like its own parliamentary party,” PPP leader Naveed Qamar said.
