Daily Times

A privilege motion was moved against Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz on Monday by the treasury benches over the sad incident of ruckus and pandemonium that took place in the house during the budget speech of finance minister on October 16.

The privilege motion jointly moved by Sajid Ahmed Khan, Raza Hussain Bukhari, Sardar Farooq Amanullah Dareshak, Talat Fatima Naqvi, Sabeen Gull and Semabia Tahir from treasury benches defended the decision of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to ban entry of six Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Members of Provincial Assembly in the house while saying that the speaker can pass the order against any member under section 210 of Rules of Procedure if a member violates the rules despite repeated directions given by the speaker.

“It does not suit using words like ‘fake speaker’ or Station House Officer for speaker who is the custodian of the house and enjoys a special status in the parliamentary form of government,” said the motion that was read by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s MPA Sajid Ahmed in the house on Monday.

It further added that the opposition leader has challenged the ruling of the speaker in a very rude manner while leveling false and baseless allegations against him.

“The rulings and directives of the speaker cannot be challenged anywhere in the parliamentary systems worldwide including Pakistan but the usage of foul language against the speaker by opposition leader shows that he didn’t get proper upbringing and nourishment,” said the motion. The speaker gave directives to constitute a special committee to probe the incident of that day during the budget speech when the furniture of assembly was damaged in the ruckus while seeking report within two weeks.

Speaking on a point of order, the Minister For Law & Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat said that it is not the protest of opposition as it is the boycott of PML-N only as the party has a special agenda behind the protest. The PML-N is getting isolated from other parties due to its own conduct as the party is insulting this house by not attending its proceedings, said the law minister. Other MPAs from the treasury benches Sardar Shahabuddin, Khadijah Umar and Chaudhry Zaheeruddin also endorsed the decision of speaker banning six MPAs of PML-N and said that the financial loss incurred to the assembly secretariat should be deducted from their salaries.

Meanwhile, the protest of opposition entered in the second day as all the members of PML-N gave sit-in at the stairs of Punjab Assembly while once again chanting slogans against Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Daaku raja ki sarkar nhi chalegi, nhi chalegi” and “Gujarat ke thanedar ki sarkar nhi chalegi nhi chalegi,” slogans were chanted by MPA Samiullah Khan on the stairs of the assembly. Opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz once again reiterated his demand of restoring the membership of the suspended MPAs and said that they’ll not attend the proceedings until their restoration. He termed their suspension as unlawful and demanded a house committee having equal representation of opposition members to probe the matter.

“The privilege motion was read against me by the MPA who is a nephew of incumbent Punjab Assembly secretary but we’ll not spare Pervaiz Elahi for his robbery of the Bank of Punjab,” he said.

The members from treasury benches continued their speeches during the budget session while criticising the last tenure of former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and demanded special development funds for their constituencies.

The members of Press Gallery also boycotted the assembly session due to the non-payment of salaries and termination of journalists from different media organisations and threatened to launch a protest movement if their grievances are not addressed.

“We are bringing a new legislation very soon for the job safety of journalists as no media organisation would be entitled to get the advertisement if it doesn’t pay the salary of employees for two months,” Information & Culture Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said, while speaking on the floor of the house.

The session was later adjourned for today (Tuesday) at 11am.

Published in Daily Times, October 23^rd 2018.