A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Samiullah Khan on Tuesday criticised the conduct of Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari while accusing him of going hunting with the crown prince of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and said that he did not appear in the House to preside the ongoing session of the Punjab Assembly.
“The deputy speaker was in Rahim Yar Khan on a hunting trip with the crown prince of UAE and he didn’t bother to come to the house for presiding the session that shows his disregard for this august House,” PML-N MPA Samiullah Khan said while speaking on a point of order on Tuesday. He further added that Prime Minister Imran Khan used to criticise our government in the past when princes from Gulf States used to visit Pakistan for hunting purpose and now same is happening in his own government and he is keeping mum over the issue. It is pertinent to mention that the proceedings of Punjab Assembly remained at standstill on Monday when deputy speaker had to chair the session in the absence of speaker but his whereabouts were unknown in the house causing embarrassment for the treasury benches. Provincial Minister for Public Prosecution Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said on the point of order that Samiullah is doing only point-scoring as deputy speaker couldn’t attend the proceedings due to his ‘private engagements’. He was of the opinion that the deputy speaker isn’t on a hunting trip with UAE’s crown prince as the weather is not suitable for hunting right now and the visit of crown prince was only a good-will visit to Pakistan. A senior MPA from Bhakkar, Saeed Akbar Nawani of treasury benches said on the occasion that weather is not necessary for hunting because several princes from Qatar and other Gulf States visited Rajanpur for the same purpose.
Earlier, the session of Punjab Assembly started with a delay of more than an hour from its scheduled time with Mian Shafi Muhammad in the chair due to the unavailability of both speaker and deputy speaker for the second consecutive day as the speaker is holding the charge of acting governor these days. The house was told during the Q&A session that the Dowry & Bridal Gift Act of 1976 is here in the place to discourage the act of dowry in the province but not a single case was registered in 2017 and ’18 against the violation of this act. Answers related to the home department were given by Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raja Basharat in the house.
A private-member resolution moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Sajid Ahmad Khan condemning the atrocities and genocide by the Indian army in Indian-held Kashmir was also passed in the house.
“This house demands from the United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and other international organisations through federal government to resolve the Kashmir issue on priority basis keeping in view the significance of the issue,” said the resolution. Another private-member resolution moved by PML-N’s Safdar Shakir demanding a strategy for the procurement of wheat in the next season was also passed. Both the treasury and opposition also agreed to have a general discussion to devise the strategy regarding the procurement of wheat and provision of gunny bags to farmers.
The session was later adjourned to meet again on Wednesday morning.
Published in Daily Times, January 9th 2019.
