'Shameful incident': NA session put off after opposition leader Omar Ayub’s remarks against fresh laws

Following a hard-hitting speech by Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan against bulldozing key bills enhancing a number of judges in the superior judiciary and increasing the fixed tenure of all three services chiefs, the National Assembly session was adjourned for an indefinite period.

His remarks came a day after parliament passed multiple bills, including “The Supreme Court Number of Judges (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill, 2024, with the majority vote amid opposition’s strong protest.

In his address, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ayub called the passage of six bills a “shameful incident” and branded the coalition regime as a “government of thieves”, triggering a ruckus in the House.

The livestream on the NA’s YouTube channel went blank after the PTI leader’s remarks. The livestream resumed when Aurangzeb Khan Khichi — a PTI-backed independent lawmaker who voted in favour of the 26th Amendment by defying party line — started his speech.

Addressing the lower house of parliament, Khichi said: “Standing beneath these pure names of Allah, I say that may Allah destroy me if I have taken even a single penny [as a bribe].”

“This is true that our party leadership has sold us.”

He clarified that he did not receive a single penny from anyone, APP reported.

The lawmaker claimed that the forward bloc was on the card in PTI on that day which he foiled, and the time would prove it.

He was speaking on point of order when PTI lawmakers started sloganeering which compelled the NA deputy speaker to read the prorogation order signed by President Asif Ali Zardari.