Chaos in KP Assembly as treasury, opposition members trade barbs

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly turned into a fish market on Wednesday as members from the treasury and opposition shouted slogans of “thief” against each other’s leadership.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani had to adjourn the session till Friday, leaving the agenda incomplete following the rumpus in the House. The situation turned ugly over Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s lawmaker Sobia Shahid’s act to hold a placard inscribed with slogans ‘Justice for Nawaz Sharif’ and ‘Stop pressing PML-N’ and Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai’s remarks terming it as staging a drama.

Following the minister’s remarks, members from the treasury and opposition including Shaukat Yousafzai, PML-N’s Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota, Sobia Shahid and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Nighat Orakzai shouted slogans of “thief” against each other’s leadership. The House suffered from chaos due to shouting and exchange of harsh words. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan silently observed the situation.

Earlier, the House unanimously passed the KP Employees of Transport Department (Regularisation of Services (Amendment) Bill, 2018, KP Education Employees Foundation Bill, 2018 and the KP Employees of the Elementary & Secondary Education Department (Appointment and Regularisation of Services) (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

In the KP Education Employees Foundation Bill, 2018, about a dozen amendments introduced by Inayatullah Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Salahuddin of the Awami National Party (ANP) were adopted as the law minister didn’t oppose these and rather termed the opposition’s amendments as a good contribution.

The bill is aimed at the establishment of Education Employees Foundation for promotion, welfare, assistance, facilitation and benefit of the department’s employees and their families and for other related matters. A board of governors headed by a chairperson will be constituted for the foundation.

Having its head office in the provincial capital, the foundation will be headed by a managing director. The members of the Board shall hold office for two years and its meeting shall be called by the chairperson. The quorum for the 12-member board meeting will be seven and intervening period between two meetings shall not exceed six months.

The managing director, who will be chief executive officer of the foundation, shall be appointed by the chief minister from amongst the retired public servants in BPS-20 and above on terms and conditions prescribed by the board.

The managing director shall manage the foundation’s affairs under the general directions of the board. He will be responsible for the administration and maintenance of order and discipline in the foundation and will execute the policy set out by the board. The foundation will have a fund to be known as the Education Employees Foundation Welfare Fund. On a complaint of Nighat Orakzai that her question hasn’t been answered, the chief minister said that action would be taken against the concerned officer. The speaker asked the chief minister to issue special directives in this regard as the government officers were not implementing the orders despite his ruling that answers should be made available two days before putting them on the agenda.