ISLAMABAD: The arrest of Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani from a Islamabad hotel echoed in the National Assembly today.
The NA on Thursday did not take up its regular agenda and the sitting had to be adjourned following protest by the opposition parties mainly on the issue of arrest of Agha Siraj Durrani.
The Speaker Asad Qaiser tried to convince the Opposition to run the business of the House as per decisions made by the Business Advisory Committee.
However, the Opposition legislators continued protest when the Speaker gave the floor to former Speaker Fehmida Mirza.
Following their protest, the Speaker adjourned the House to meet again onFriday at 11 am.
As the session began, PPP Leader Khursheed Shah lashed out at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the government and condemned the arrest.
What message you want to give by dragging the custodian of an elected house, he asked.
'May be he was involved in some illegal activities but this is not the way to treat.'
Responding to the PPP leader, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood said the previous government should have amended the law during their rule, pointing that PTI's Aleem Khan was also arrested by NAB recently.
“Why didn’t the PPP amend NAB laws when it came up with the 18th amendment? Neither the PPP nor PML-N changed the bureau’s laws when they were in power,” Mahmood remarked.
He added, “If there has been an arrest then why is the Parliament being involved? NAB doesn’t take instructions from the prime minister."
Shortly after, chaos broke out in the session when PPP leaders continued to condemn the arrest.
Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, registering his protest, termed Durrani’s arrest to be an insult to the Parliament and questioned why the speaker was dragged away in an undignified manner and his house searched for hours by the NAB officials.
PPP leaders were also seen wearing black armbands as protest distributed by former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
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