Opposition warns of no-trust motion against NA speaker

ISLAMABAD: The opposition on Wednesday warned of bringing a no-confidence motion against National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, if he did not change his attitude towards the opposition benches.

The warning came from senior opposition leader and PKMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai during a chat with the media outside the Parliament House along with other opposition leaders. He accused the NA speaker of playing the role of ‘havaldar’. “I say to the NA speaker you are custodian of the House and don’t try to become a PMLN worker. To switch off the mic of opposition leaders is undemocratic. If the speaker does not correct his attitude towards the opposition, a no-confidence motion will be moved against him,” he asserted.

Achakzai said: “Together we have brought this country to democracy with difficulty. Parliament is the supreme institution. It is the speaker’s responsibility to honour it. The opposition leader’s house is being raided. Police are coming to arrest him. The speaker is saying write to me. This assembly belongs to all of us as members and we all have the right to speak here. The opposition is also a part of this assembly. This assembly is not being run according to the Constitution of Pakistan.”

Speaking on the occasion, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub said a dissenting note had been written by four opposition MPs in a meeting of the Standing Committee for Finance on the appointment of board of directors in institutions. The government, he alleged, wanted to sabotage this process by hastily enacting legislation and the procedure of appointment and change of board of directors in national institutions was not correct. The dissenting note should be made a part of the minutes of the standing committee’s meeting.

He said a law has been passed in the National Assembly today while the members of National Assembly were given a copy of the draft bill at the same time. “We have opposed the bill concerning the appointment of boards of directors of national institutions today.”

PTI leader Asad Qaiser said an organized campaign against the judiciary was currently underway and that attempts were being made to suppress the judiciary by blackmailing it. “We condemn this campaign and our alliance will resist it. We will not come under any pressure and our struggle will continue. Time stands with the judiciary. If the nation does not stand with the judiciary, human rights will be lost,” he cautioned. The Constitution, he insisted, was not just the name of a paper, the constitution gave people rights. “Practically there is a martial law in the country at the moment,” he claimed.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali said the opposition was being mistreated, whereas there was a decision of the Supreme Court that no one’s house would be raided, and the government said on oath that no one would be forcibly detained. “We will not be cowed down. No FIR is being registered against the government. If the government does not change its attitude, it will not be allowed to continue,” he warned.