Daily Times

The proceedings of Thursday’s session of the Punjab Assembly ended amid a hullabaloo over the creation of new provinces out of Punjab. The session was convened by the opposition, whose agenda was to discuss the law and order situation, alleged financial indiscipline in Punjab and prevailing sense of deprivation in the southern belt, but it could not be taken up as the PML-Q’s Ch Zaheeruddin and PML-Z’s Shahid Anjum submitted two separate resolutions in the assembly secretariat seeking creation of a Seraiki province in southern Punjab and restoration of the state of Bahawalpur respectively. The MMA’s Ali Haider Noor Niazi also submitted a resolution in the same sitting, demanding the creation of Thal province. Although the speaker of the assembly did not entertain any of the three proposals, he allowed the members to speak on the issue on points of order. The temperature grew hotter in the assembly as lawmakers belonging to the treasury and the opposition benches were not ready to listen to differing views and engaged in verbal, and even physical, fights.

This is not the first incident of its kind in the present Punjab assembly. On various other occasions, legislators have engaged in physical brawls. On Thursday, the sanctity of the house was disregarded once again. The legislators forgot that according to the rules, resolutions cannot be tabled without the speaker’s nod. Their actions created tension in the house, leading to a war of words among the legislators. Such behaviour in the assembly is unacceptable. It has not only brought a bad name to the elected members but the assembly too.

In a truly democratic society, confrontation over differences of opinion occurs, but is settled through a logical and civilised debate. Our lawmakers show no regard to the mandate people have given them and their fellow members and tend to forget the dignity, restraint and poise required of their calling as elected representatives. It is quite unfortunate that in a poor country like ours where democracy is still in an embryonic stage, instead of taking utmost care, our representatives display the height of irresponsibility, indiscipline and unacceptable conduct. It is pertinent to mention the expenditures incurred on the holding of these assembly sessions. A one-day session costs the exchequer approximately Rs 16 million. Very few assembly members come to the sessions on time. A lot of time is wasted just to complete the quorum and on days when this is achieved, the discussion usually ends in a fight. Is this what they are elected to do? *