Daily Times

The opposition and government engaged in a verbal spat again as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif on Friday warned that the opposition would not let Prime Minister Imran Khan enter parliament if the government restrains National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif from attending the sessions.

Asif was referring to tweets by the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Political Affairs, Naeemul Haque, who had warned Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif against targeting Prime Minister Imran Khan with ‘personal’ attacks while threatening that the PML-N leader would “spend more time in jail sulking” if his production orders were to be revoked.

Haque’s threat had come after the National Assembly erupted in general pandemonium on Wednesday, with insults and taunts thrown freely across the aisle soon after the prime minister arrived for the session. The prime minister, who had last been seen in the assembly on Oct 3, had entered the house at the time when Sharif was lambasting the federal and the Punjab governments over the handling of the Sahiwal incident.

Speaking to the media outside the parliament, Asif said that they wanted parliament to continue its job.

“Governments come and go, but the parliament should continue functioning. If this is the environment they want to create in parliament, we are also ready for it. However, it is the government that will be held solely responsible for this, he warned.

“If the language they want to use is reflected in these tweets […] they do not even respect the Speaker’s office, nor the parliament. These same people used to use foul language against the parliament in the past and curse it […] but if they plan to carry on the same behaviour now that they are in the government, it [the parliament] won’t go on [much further].”

But though the veteran lawmaker was clear about the opposition not tolerating non-parliamentary language, there was no mention or regret for the unbecoming remarks uttered by the opposition leader against Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Wednesday.

The opposition leader had said that “the chief minister cannot even respond to nature’s call without the prime minister’s permission.”

He had also hit a nerve with the treasury benches by calling the premier “the selected prime minister”.

Minutes after Asif wrapped up his media talk, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry responding to the PML-N, saying: “I don’t understand the opposition’s behaviour in the National Assembly. On one hand, they say that the prime minister does not come to the assembly; but once he does, it seems like the assembly turns into a bazaar.”

He added, “Personal insults are hurled by the opposition, and then they say it is the government that does not respect parliament. The opposition needs to respect the prime minister first.”

“He is being investigated currently and there are Rangers, police and ambulances outside for him. This is the sort of protocol even ministers don’t even dream of,” Fawad observed, turning the spotlight on the PML-N president’s ongoing legal troubles.

While talking to the media, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Naeemul Haque had threatened the opposition in his tweet.

“We have submitted our complaint to the Speaker in the chamber who has promised to address the matter,” Khaqan Abbasi added.

Published in Daily Times, January 26^th 2019.