NA proceedings prematurely end after uproar

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday witnessed premature end to proceedings for the third consecutive day following a verbal clash between the government and opposition benches involving Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.

As Ali Muhammad Khan said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif did not press the Qatari letter in the Supreme Court, which he earlier had presented in the National Assembly following the disclosure of Panama Papers, the opposition leader responded that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on charges of ‘Iqama’ not ‘Panama’. “It is on the record that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on Iqama,” Shehbaz said

A tense situation in the house was created after PPP’s Shazia Mari wanted to move a resolution with demand to reinstate 16,000 employees who faced removal after a verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Opposition member Abdul Qadar Patel pointed out lack of quorum after Shazia Mari was not allowed to move the resolution. The chair amid uproar from both sides adjourned the proceedings without giving orders to count members present in the House.

“The matter is subjudice and you cannot raise this issue in the house,” Presiding Officer Amjad Khan Niazi said while responding to the plea of Shazia Mari to move a resolution in support of 16,000 removed employees. However, the PPP member insisted that they just want to express solidarity with the removed employees and the resolution contains nothing which conflicts with the court decision.

Ali Muhammad Khan said the matter is subjudice as the government has gone in a review appeal against the Supreme Court’s verdict. “I agree with the spirit of the resolution but feel that the rules of business do not allow discussion on the issue in the house,” he said.

Raja Parvaiz Ashraf said the haven would not fall if they are allowed to move the resolution to express solidarity with the sacked employees. “Remove anything from the text of the resolution if there is anything objectionable,” he said.

Khwaja Asif of the PMLN said it is a big injustice that 16,000 employees were removed without giving them any benefits, adding that many of them might be at the verge of retirement. “Let there be a message that we the parliamentarians are sensitive to public issues,” he said. The PMLN leader said it could have been appropriate that the employees employed in the 1990s were offered a golden handshake and other benefits. “We are supporting this just cause as it is human. This is terrible,” he said.

Shireen Mazari responding to Khwaja Asif said he should be ashamed of what he is saying as his government removed those employees and now he is showing sympathies for them. “Khwaja show some ‘Sharm’ and ‘Haya’, you removed these employees and we reinstated them,” she said, adding that the PTI government reinstated the employees and then the Supreme Court took action.

Shehbaz condemned the words of the minister. “Whether we removed thousands of employees of PIA and Steel Mills,” he said, adding that five million people have been rendered jobless by the incumbent government, making their lives miserable. He said where 10 million jobs have vanished, national economy has been destroyed, while there has been a storm of price hike mainly due to bad governance.

Shireen Mazari reminded the opposition leader that he made promises that he would drag the corrupt on roads and bring back looted money. “Instead his brother escaped the country after looting the national exchequer,” she said.

Shehbaz said his family paid off loans of Rs6 billion by selling assets of the Ittefaq Foundry while it was the PMLN government which executed record development projects and put an end to electricity load-shedding whereas the incumbent government did not plan even a single project.

Ali Muhammad Khan asked Nawaz Sharif to submit to the court and the Constitution. “Today the Islamabad High Court is summoning him and he should submit to the court,” he said. He pointed out that it was Prime Minister Imran Khan who appeared before the Supreme Court when he was summoned and was declared Sadiq and Amin. “The parliament and Constitution of the country are supreme. We all should submit to the Constitution and respect courts,” he said. He told the opposition leader that on the directives of the prime minister, the government has already gone into a review appeal in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami member Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali introduced the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery (Amendment) Bill 2021. Two other private members bills the Islamabad Capital Territory Prevention of Beggary Bill 2021 and the Contractors Registration Bill 2021 were also introduced in the House.

The house passed a resolution to refer the Islamabad Rent Restriction (Amendment) Bill 2020, as passed by the National Assembly and not by the Senate within 90 days of its laying in the Senate, to the joint sitting for consideration and passage.