Brawl between PTI MPAs violates KP Assembly’s sanctity

PESHAWAR: A brawl between two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers during the assembly session not only violated the sanctity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly but also brought a bad name to the constituencies from where they were elected in the 2013 general election.

The souls of late Bashir Ahmad Bilour and late Arbab Ayub Jan must have been perturbed after those elected from their constituencies came to blows in the assembly. Javid Nasim and Arbab Jehandad Khan, elected from provincial assembly constituencies PK-3 Peshawar and PK-9 Peshawar, respectively, used fists and abusive language against each other during the assembly session on Monday.

Bashir Ahmad Bilour and Arbab Ayub Jan were known for their decency and gentle nature. They were senior lawmakers who were elected to the provincial assembly more than once but their scions lost to Javid Nasim in PK-3 Peshawar and to Arbab Jehandad Khan in PK-9 Peshawar when Imran Khan’s ‘tsunami’ hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 2013 election.

The allegations and counter-allegations by the two PTI lawmakers would have continued for a longer time on the assembly floor had Deputy Speaker Dr Mehar Taj Roghani not adjourned the session.

The PTI MPAs and some provincial ministers rushed to disengage the colleagues when they entered into a physical fight on the treasury benches.The buttons of Arbab Jehandad shirt were plucked when he was moved to the Ayes Gallery by the assembly staff and his colleagues.

“He cursed my leader Imran Khan and I cannot tolerate the use of abusive language against my leader,” Arbab Jehandad told this scribe after the assembly session. However, Javid Nasim said he had felicitated the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) newly elected MPA Arbab Waseem and this angered Arbab Jehandad who misbehaved with him.

Both the legislators accused each other of being drunk and not in their senses during the assembly session.The exchange of abuses between the PTI lawmakers not only earned a bad name for the provincial assembly but also for the party and constituencies they are representing in the august House, said Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan after the session was adjourned.   

Opposition leader and parliamentary party leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F Maulana Lutfur Rehman said the Khyber Pakhutnkhwa Assembly had rich traditions of mutual respect that the lawmakers show towards each other but the immature and inexperienced PTI MPAs had marred that sanctity today.

“It happened for the first time that members from the same party and that too from the treasury benches quarrelled on the assembly floor,” he said. “Being lawmakers we are ashamed of this act,” he remarked.

PML-N’s Sobia Shahid told The News that after showing indiscipline and immorality at PTI public gatherings, the PTI lawmakers had brought that practice to the assembly as well.“What will we tell the common people when the lawmakers are using abusive language on the assembly floor,” she said. She pointed out that they were not two individuals but represented their constituencies and voters.

Talking to the media after the assembly session, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education, said the PTI lawmakers might have some personal grudges against each other but they should have respected the assembly floor and its sanctity.“The PTI leadership would definitely take disciplinary action against those who earned a bad name for the party and provincial assembly,” he added.