KP Assembly session adjourned after protest

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly could not continue routine business on Tuesday due to a protest sit-in staged by an opposition member inside the Assembly Hall which prompted the Speaker to adjourn the session till Friday.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl member from Hangu district, Mufti Syed Janan, staged protest in front of the Speaker’s dais soon after recitation from the Holy Quran. He remained there for about 15 minutes.

Other opposition members belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Qaumi Watan Party and dissident members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, also joined the protesting lawmaker.

The JUI-F MPA did not end the protest on the request of the provincial ministers and Deputy Speaker Dr Mehar Taj Roghani who was presiding the session.

The treasury benches even tried to get the session adjourned before time by pointing out the lack of quorum but the heavy presence of opposition members in the House foiled their attempt.

The JUI-F MPA was protesting against the PTI-led government for not releasing gas royalty fund to his constituency, PK-43 Hangu, for the last two and half years.

The assembly hall echoed with slogans like “Ro Imran Ro”, Go Nawaz Go,” and “Go Zardari Go,” when the opposition and treasury benches members exchanged harsh words on the floor.

Taking the floor, Mufti Syed Janan said the present government had stopped a sum of Rs 100.85 million as royalty of natural gas for the year 2013-14 to his constituency, PK-43 Hangu.

“The Peshawar High Court even ordered the provincial government to release the amount. Due to political rivalry the chief minister had stopped the funds,” he said. He added that he made several attempts to meet the chief minister to discuss the issue but he was deliberately avoiding meeting him.

The lawmaker said he had no other option to secure his right and had been compelled to stage protest sit-in in the assembly for seeking the rights of his constituency.

“I will continue my protest even outside the assembly till the release of all development funds for my constituency,” he vowed. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf dissident MPAs Qurban Ali Khan from Nowshera and Babar Saleem from Swabi criticized their party’s government for not releasing development funds to their constituencies.

They said they had moved the Peshawar High Court for the release of development funds. They alleged that their share of funds was being utilized by non-elected persons in their constituencies.

Pakistan People’s Party parliamentary party leader Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha and Munawar Khan of the JUI-F criticized the provincial government for not releasing development funds and royalty of gas, electricity and tobacco crops to the districts where it was being produced and generated.