close
Tuesday March 19, 2024

PTI member’s remarks invites opposition’s anger in KP Assembly

By Nisar Mahmood
January 23, 2018

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly turned into a fish market on Monday after a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Zar Gul Khan cursed the Parliament.

Opposition members shouted slogans of “shame, shame” and “Go Imran go” when the MPA from Kohistan, Zar Gul Khan said the Parliament which passed the bill to allow a disqualified person to be the party chief deserved to be cursed. He was responding to a demand by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha for presenting a condemnation resolution against PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Aurangzeb Nalotha, on a point of a order, said the Parliament was a sacred institution and lawmakers were respected for being public representatives. He argued that cursing the Parliament amounted to cursing the whole nation. He said other assemblies had passed resolutions to condemn Imran Khan’s cursing of the Parliament and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly should also pass such a resolution as a mark of respect for the Parliament.

The Speaker, Asad Qaiser, asked Zar Gul Khan to reply to the PML-N lawmaker. In his reply, Zar Gul said Pakistan was an ideological state which came into being in the name of Islam. However, he said that if a Parliament passes a bill allowing a disqualified person to be the head of a political party, it deserved to be cursed. His remarks irked the opposition members who started shouting “shame, shame” and encircled the speaker’s dais.

Though the Speaker ruled that the words of curse be expunged from the proceedings, the opposition members belonging to the PML-N, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) demanded that Zar Gul should seek an apology.

The Speaker tried to calm down the opposition members so that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Buildings (Management Control and Allotment) Bill 2018 can be passed, but they continued their protest. The prompted the Speaker to adjourn the session till February 12. Following the uproar, Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami and some PTI lawmakers left the House, leaving Zar Gul to bear the brunt of the opposition lawmaker.

Earlier, the Speaker suspended the question hour because of ministers’ absence from the House while the bill on the agenda regarding employees’ regularisation of services was deferred.

A call attention notice of Munawar Khan of JUI-F regarding Class-IV employees’ recruitment, especially in Prisons department, was referred to a committee to be constituted by the law minister.

On another call attention by Mehmud Jan of PTI about fixing of sugarcane prices in the province, the Speaker ordered the Food Department to ensure payment to growers at the rate of Rs180 per 40 kilograms.

The mover said that sugar mills were buying sugarcane at Rs165 despite the fact that the official rate in the whole country was Rs180 and is also being followed in Punjab. Food Minister Qalandar Lodhi argued that Rs165 was the official rate while Punjab government was giving subsidy to the sugar mills for payment at the rate of Rs180.

He claimed growers in KP had not lodged any formal complaint. He added that they should lodge written complaint with the concerned administration if they have any objection over the rates.

Speaking on a point of order, a ruling party MPA, Idrees Khan, pinpointed flaws in the health card issued by the provincial government. He said a heart patient having health card visited the Rahman Medical Institute (RMI) in Hayatabad where he was asked to submit Rs200,000 from his own pocket as he was entitled to spending of Rs300,000 only through the health card.

He also complained that the said patient visited Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar in October last year where he was given September 2018 as the date for his surgery. He posed a question as to how a cardiac patient is being asked to wait for one year. The Speaker asked secretary Health to settle the issue by holding a meeting with the members.