Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Lower House of parliament on Thursday observed heated arguments between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers, which resulted in a physical scuffle in the premises of parliament.

During the proceedings, PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif called PTI Chairman Imran Khan a traitor, who gave a “rough” statement against foreign cricket players after the successful PSL final match in Lahore. This was the main cause of the fight between the two rival MNAs. This was the second scuffle between the members of the PML-N and the PTI within a short period of time. The ruling party’s Javed Latif slapped PTI’s Murad Saeed after the proceedings, while Murad Saeed punched him in the face. The conflict started during the session of the National Assembly, as Murad Saeed sought permission to speak on Pashtoon racial profiling in Punjab, but the deputy speaker asked him to shorten his remark, upon which the PTI member argued with him.

On the floor of the House, Javed Latif remarked that PTI leaders, including party chairman Imran Khan, had no ethical training and did not know how to speak. Latif called PTI Imran Khan a “traitor”.

He was of the view that Pathans were known across the world for their hospitality, but Imran Khan termed foreign players, who came to Pakistan for playing the final of PSL, “patheechar”. He said the PTI chief also provoked the people to opt for civil disobedience, besides urging them to evade taxes.

Later, both Latif and Saeed came face to face in the corridors of the National Assembly building, where the fight broke out.

While talking to the media after the incident, Murad Saeed said that the PML-N member had called the PTI leader a traitor, which was totally intolerable. He further said that the ruling party was adopting such theatrics because the Panamagate case verdict was near.

Earlier, responding to a calling attention notice, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal said that all citizens of Pakistan would be included in the upcoming census and nobody would be refused registration due to non-availability of the CNIC.

The calling attention notice was moved by MQM’s Sajid Ahmad and others regarding census in Sindh, where the number of blocks had been reduced with the intention to show the rural population was greater than the urban population. On this, Rana Afzal said that urban blocks stood at 21,766, while the number of rural blocks was 17,209, which showed an increase, not decrease, in urban blocks.

He said that in Sindh, about 56 percent of the population blocks were in urban areas.