KP Assembly sees commotion over anti-Imran remarks

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday witnessed an altercation between Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Population Welfare Liaqat Ali Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Iqbal Wazir of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Parliamentarians (PTIP) when the latter allegedly made some uncalled-for remarks against former prime minister Imran Khan. This angered the PTI lawmakers who created a scene at the House and attempted to attack the PTIP legislator Iqbal Wazir. The PTI members demanded Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, who was presiding over the session, to terminate the assembly membership of Iqbal Wazir.

The speaker asked the PTIP member to leave the House in a bid to defuse the tension and maintain discipline. However, the PTI lawmakers said they would not allow the assembly proceedings until the membership of Iqbal Wazir was annulled.

The altercation took place when Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Population Welfare Liaqat Ali Khan was speaking about the flood situation in the Upper Chitral district. In the meantime, Liaqat Ali and Iqbal Wazir started exchanging arguments over Form 47.

Iqbal Wazir allegedly made some uncalled-for remarks against former prime minister Imran Khan, which angered the PTI lawmakers and this led to the commotion. However, other members of the assembly and security officials stepped in to calm things down.

The treasury benches demanded that Iqbal Wazir should apologize to the entire House or else his assembly membership should be terminated.

The leader of the opposition, Dr Ibadullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan People’s Party parliamentary leader Ahmad Karim Kundi and Adnan Wazir of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl tendered an apology on behalf of the opposition benches to cool down the situation but Liaqat Ali and other PTI MPAs did not relent and demanded that Iqbal Wazir’s membership should be terminated.

Liaqat Ali said the PTI workers would take to the streets against this incident if action was not taken against Iqbal Wazir. Minister for Law Aftab Alam Khan also made the demand for cancelling the membership of PTIP MPA, saying that they revered the PTI founding chairman and could not tolerate his insult.

Giving his ruling, the speaker said that all the lawmakers should respect each other and avoid making such remarks as these violated the sanctity of the House.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed a unanimous resolution against the Supreme Court’s recent verdict in the Mubarak Sani case and asked the apex court to review the decision. The resolution was moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member Provincial Assembly Abdus Salam.

The resolution said that the SC verdict had hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims. It urged the apex court to review the verdict to end the unrest in the Muslim Ummah. “The finality of the Prophethood is the integral part of faith and there will be no compromise with it,” it added.