Punjab Assembly (PA), on Thursday, witnessed another war of words between the lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over the arrest of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during a session that was convened on the requisition of PML-N. The session that started with a delay of over two hours from its scheduled time of 10 am on Thursday held general discussions on law and order situation of the province. Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was presiding over the session. Speaking on floor of the house, newly elected parliamentarian from DG Khan and former federal minister of PML-N’s government Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Laghari said that political prisoners were a stigma for the credibility of a government and it was now evident that Shahbaz Sharif was a political prisoner and not a prisoner of NAB. He said on the occasion that the government had lost its seats to the opposition within a short span of two months in the by-elections due to its poor policies. He said that a government should proceed with reconciliation but the PTI was still behaving aggressively. “I want to ask why Shahbaz Sharif is being detained by NAB,” questioned Laghari on the floor. “Is changing the landscape of the province by bringing drastic changes during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister (CM) his crime?” he asked. He was speaking on behalf of leader of the opposition Hamza Shehbaz although the younger scion of Sharif family was also present in the house. “Shahbaz Sharif worked tirelessly for the people of this province, he stood firmly with the people during the devastating floods of South Punjab and he also introduced massive development projects during his term as the Punjab CM,” said Laghari. He added that the government was confused and it would not last for long. He said that there was a need to amend NAB laws since the existing laws lacked transparency and fairness. Minister for Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal said that the leadership of PML-N received kickbacks from the projects and therefore they were facing the NAB cases. He further added that NAB was not formed by the government of PTI and it was established by the PML-N government itself. He said that their favourite bureaucrats Ahad Cheema and Fawad Hasan Fawad were NAB with evidence. Earlier, an out-of-turn resolution was also passed unanimously in the House to condole the brutal assassination of leading religious scholar and chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Sami ulHaq. His religious and political services were also lauded in the parliament. “The deceased remained a member of Senate twice and his religious and political services would be remembered forever,” said the resolution that was passed unanimously. Provincial minister for Law Raja Basharat, Malik Nadeem Kamran of PML-N, Syed Hassan Murtaza of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Moavia Azam of Rah-e-Haq party were the signatories of the resolution. Maulana Moavia Azam said on the occasion that the killers of Maulana Sami ul Haq should be arrested within 20 days. He said that Haq’s services were not only acknowledged in Pakistan but also lauded in Afghanistan. Although Moavia sits on the treasury benches, he came down hard on the government over the release of Asia Bibi and also crticised the statement of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan over the issue. “No special plane lands in Syria or Iraq for the innocent Muslims but a special plane landed here in Pakistan for Asia Bibi committed blasphemy. Where is the Muslim Ummah? ” he thundered in the house. Malik Ahmad of PML-N said on the occasion that government was seen nowhere during the recent sit-ins of TLP when the writ of state was compromised. “I saw complete lock-down of the province where the public property was damaged badly and there was cross-firing on the roads endangering the lives of people. Where was the government during three days of sit-in? ” he questioned, while speaking on the law and order situation. He further added that there was no difference in the stance of Imran Khan and NAB DG since they had formed an unholy nexus to target PML-N leaders. Minister for Law Raja Basharat said that the PTI government managed to solve the TLP sit-in issue in the shortest span of time without firing even a single bullet. “As many as eight people were killed last year during the sit-in of TLP in the federal capital while 14 people were killed in day light in this city during the tenure of last government but we were able to resolve the crisis amicably that should be appreciated,“ he said. “We have ordered the assessment of damaged property due to sit-ins and the report would be presented in this house,” he said and added that right now there were over 100 people under the custody of police for damaging the public property. All six MPAs of PML-N who were barred from entering the House during the last session entered the house on Thursday carrying the portraits of Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif amidst desk thumping from the opposition benches who gave them a warm welcome in the House. Harsh words were exchanged between Rana Mashhood and Minister for Information Feyyazul Hasan Chohan when Chohan accused Mashhood of receiving kickbacks and being the front-man of Shahbaz Sharif. “I’m living in the house vacated by Rana Mashhood in GOR 1 and the staff told me that he used to get bribes and kickbacks in his official residence when he was minister in the last government,” said Chohan. It stirred strong reaction from Mashhood who wanted to respond Chohan but wasn’t allowed by Speaker Pervaiz Elahi. Syed Hasan Murtaza and Makhdoom Usman of PPP, Mian Jalil Sharaqpuri, Samiullah Khan, Mian Mujtaba and Pir Ashraf Rasool of PML-N and Chaudhry Zaheer, Sardar Shahab-ud-Din, Nadeem Qureshi, Zainab Umair and Saadia Sohail Rana also spoke on the occasion. The session was later prorogued for indefinite time period. Published in Daily Times, November 9th 2018.