Rumpus in KP Assembly over arrest of Shahbaz Sharif

PESHAWAR: Opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly staged a protest on the floor of the house on Monday against the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and opposition leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif.

Just before the finance minister’s starting of the budget speech, PML-N members of the provincial assembly gathered in front of the speaker’s dais and started raising slogans against the government and demanded release of Shahbaz Sharif. They were holding the portraits of Shahbaz Sharif and were chanting slogans like “PTI aye, mehngai layee” (With the PTI came the inflation).

Other opposition parties including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami also joined the protest and chanted slogans.

Some members from the treasury Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) including Shaukat Yousafzai responded with slogans of ‘Chor, Chor [thief]” which led to a counter sloganeering and rumpus in the house.

The joint opposition then staged a walkout when the speaker asked for order in the house. However, treasury members including Senior Minister Atif Khan, Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan and Fazle Elahi went to the lobby and brought the opposition back to the house when Finance Minister Taimoor Jhagra had already started his budget speech.

Earlier, Speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered oath to the newly elected MPA Shaukat Yousafzai, Sobia Shahid and Madiha Nisar. Shaukat Yousafzai was elected MPA from Shangla in the re-polling as the Election Commission of Pakistan had declared his earlier election null and void because most women in the constituency had not cast their votes in the last general election.