Daily Times

LAHORE: All opposition parties and independent legislators on Monday boycotted the Punjab Assembly (PA) proceedings over what they said that the speaker was snubbing opposition benches unnecessarily and running the House affairs on the directives of Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.

Punjab Assembly session started an hour and 35 minutes late to its scheduled time at 2pm with Speaker Rana Iqbal in the chair. On a point of order, opposition member Sardar Shahabud Din of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) highlighted the issue of police action against his party in Haroonabad.

Shahab claimed that police had killed one person and injured three others, including the PPP’s secretary for southern Punjab Shaukat Basra, in a straight firing on the protesters during their sit-in in Haroonabad.

He said that Punjab Police had repeated Model Town-like tragedy in Haroonabad. He said that the Punjab government had given a free hand to police for such killings. However, the speaker subbed Shahbud Din, switched off his mike and advised him to wait until Law Minister Rana Sanaullah join the session.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said that the speaker did not miss any chance to snub the opposition parties. He declared Haroonabad incident “police terrorism”, saying firing on protesters of an opposition party was highly condemnable.

He alleged that the speaker was running the House on the directives of the law minister which was unacceptable and announced to boycott the session.

Anyhow, the speaker continued the agenda of the day despite the absence of the opposition parties and low attendance of treasury members.

When Law Minister Rana Sanaullah reached the House, he said the opposition parties should not point fingers at the role of speaker. “If they have some reservations they should come to the speaker’s chamber to solve matter amicably.”

However, the speaker advised the law minister to inform the House about the Haroonabad incident, but he refused, saying he would clarify the government’s stance once the opposition parties join the proceedings.

Earlier talking to media outside the Punjab Assembly, Rana Sanaullah said that the government was ready to probe the Haroonabad incident. He said that it was not a political protest but a sit-in against a tea company from its competitor, and that PPP’s leader Shaukat Basra was supporting one of them.