LAHORE
The Opposition in Punjab Assembly on Friday gave a tough time not only to the treasury but also to Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan after the opposition members turned their guns towards him, raising slogans against him and demanding his removal. The incident led to a rumpus where both sides raised slogans against each other’s leaderships, while the opposition members also raised slogans against the Speaker.
The Speaker helplessly tried to control the situation and kept shouting, “order, order, order in the House”, but in vain as nobody in the House was clearly audible amidst the loud noise and hullabaloo. The opposition members, determined not to let the House proceed, also indicated lack of quorum which forced the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings for Monday.
The trouble began when Speaker cut short the speech of the Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed who was speaking on an adjournment motion about the writing off of nearly Rs1.5 billion loans by the Bank of Punjab.
The opposition leader sat down but protested and grumbled against the Speaker for not allowing him to speak on a vitally important matter. He said the beneficiaries of the Bank of Punjab’s written-off loans included a brother of a central PML-N leader Pervaiz Malik. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah intervened into the situation and asked the Speaker to allow time to the opposition leader to speak on the matter after which he would submit his reply. But when opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed rose to speak he took strong exception to the Speaker for letting him speak only after the nod of the law minister.
Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed began his tirade against the Speaker, accusing him of breaching the privilege of the august House by running the proceedings on the dictation of the law minister. He said the august House comprising the representatives of the biggest province in the country should not be run like that, and demanded the government to remove the Punjab Assembly Speaker and appoint someone who could independently and impartially run the House. He warned that if the Speaker was not removed the opposition would not let the House function. With this most of the opposition members began raising slogans against the Speaker. They rose from their seats and gathered in front of the Speaker’s seat, raising slogans against the government. They tore away the copies of agenda and threw pieces towards the Speaker’s seat. The treasury benches also joined in the fray and raised slogans against the PTI leadership. This uproar continued for several minutes during which Speaker helplessly tried to take control of the situation but failed.
When the commotion died down, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah criticised the opposition leader and members for their rowdy attitude and misguiding the people by making false accusations on important matters. He accused the Leader of the Opposition for making false accusations regarding the writing-off of the loans. He said making false accusations had become the hallmark of the opposition leaders. He said the bank had not written off any loans but the opposition leaders were raising hue and cry only to protect the “ATM of Imran Khan.” He warned that “ATM of Imran Khan” would soon be brought to the dock and put behind the bars.
Rana Sanaullah said the list of those who benefitted from the writing-off of loans comprised of 167 names, and clarified that bank had only written off parts of mark-up and not the principal amount. He said according to the laws and regulation of the State Bank, it was the discretion of the State Bank and other banks to write off the mark-up. He said the beneficiaries included Javed Akram who is brother of PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik, but he too was benefitted from the writing off of mark-up only which amounted to Rs10 million. He said the total amount of actual loans written off was only Rs50 million, while the remaining Rs1.5 billion were the mark-up. The law minister said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had been speaking the truth that PTI’s “ATM” had been writing off their loans and the government would recover all those money from their bellies.
The Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed again rose to reply to the speech by the law minister, but the Speaker did not allow him to speak any further despite his protests. The Speaker announced beginning of the official business of the day. But the opposition members were not ready to let the matter go off easily, and they again began protest and sloganeering, causing another uproar, during which PTI’s deputy parliamentary leader Aslam Iqbal indicated the lack of quorum in the House. The Speaker ordered ringing bells for several minutes but the quorum could not be maintained, following which he adjourned the proceedings.