Daily Times

The National Assembly session was marred by rumpus on the second consecutive day, as lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) continued to shout at each other when the opposition condemned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s public acknowledgement in Tehran that terrorists had, in the past, misused Pakistani territory to carry out attacks in Iran.

The opposition parties staged a strong protest during the session and tore copies of the agenda. Things started boiling after PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir Khan pointed out that Imran Khan’s statement could take Pakistan on the back foot. He termed Imran Khan’s comment ‘dangerous’ and maintained that the premier gave a similar statement during an interview to the New York Times. “I demand prime minister to give an explanation to the House over his remarks. I am not labeling Imran Khan as traitor or Modi’s friend,” he said.

“No prime minister has ever made such a confession on foreign soil,” Dastgir said, adding that only a day earlier, “the foreign minister had stated that terrorists had entered from Iran to carry out activities in Balochistan”. He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had linked the bailout package for Islamabad to the findings of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “Pakistan is exposed internationally by such statements,” the PML-N lawmaker said.

He recalled that Imran had previously suggested that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election could help reach a settlement over occupied Kashmir, and alleged that the premier in a public meeting had said that he could “shake hands with Modi but not the opposition”. He also accused the prime minister of stating that the Pakistani military had created militants. “The prime minister has committed diplomatic blunders,” the PML-N leader alleged, and added that the premier had compromised national security through such statements. He said the PM had to come to the House to give an explanation.

PPP MNA Hina Rabbani Khar was also unforgiving in her criticism of the PM’s statements. “We are worried for the country – and not for ourselves – after seeing it being continually ridiculed,” she said. “This is not funny anymore. You cannot play with the future of the country anymore.” “This was not a slip of the tongue. The prime minister has distorted both geography and history for all of us.”

Replying to the accusation, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said the opposition had quoted only the first part of the premier’s statement. She said that after saying that Pakistan’s soil had been used for terrorist activities in Iran in the past, he had said that terrorists had recently come from Iran to carry out attacks in Balochistan. She said only half of the prime minister’s sentence was being repeated and taken out of context.

Regarding another statement concerning Germany and Japan sharing border, she said it was a slip of the tongue. “The prime minister wanted to say Germany and France and not Germany and Japan,” she explained.

“The next part of his sentence was that those who killed in Ormara came from Iran,” she said. “The entire sentence should be heard. If we want to eliminate terrorism, we need to first tackle the banned organisations on both sides of the border. Both Iran and Pakistan need to tackle them.”

The House was marred by the opposition parties’ protest during the speech of PTI leader Murad Saeed. The opposition chanted ‘no baby no’ slogans and surrounded the dais of the speaker. PPP MNA Rohullah took pages from NA secretary’s table, which was in front of the speaker’s chair, tore them and threw them in the air. The opposition parties even chanted ‘Go Niazi Go’ for a long time, as Murad Saeed continued his speech.

Murad said the opposition did not have the courage to listen to him, as he was unveiling the truth. He criticised PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and accused him of fighting India’s case. Bilawal, his father Asif Ali Zardari and his paternal aunt Faryal Talpur were facing trial in fake accounts case, he added. He claimed that opposition parties were making hue and cry over the accountability process.

He said under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country’s image had improved significantly and it had come out of isolation.

Meanwhile, the NA deputy speaker adjourned the House proceedings for 20 minutes for prayers.

After the break, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to create southern Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces was tabled by PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah. The PML-N and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) backed the bill tabled in the Lower House. Ahsan Iqbal, another member of the PML-N, while endorsing the bill, said, “This is a big day for the people of southern Punjab.” He also urged the ruling PTI not to oppose the bill.

Law Minister Farogh Naseem and other government members did not oppose the bill, which was referred to the relevant standing committee for further consideration. Earlier, PPP leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that the PPP was the first political party that took the initiative for creation of southern Punjab province.

PML-Q leader and Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema supported the bill, and stressed the need for carving out Bahawalpur province in Punjab. A bill against forced conversions – moved by PPP’s Amir Naveed Jeeva – was also tabled in the assembly, and was sent to the standing committee concerned.

Meanwhile, the House was informed that no load shedding was being carried out on 80 percent of feeders across the country. Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Fazal Muhammad Khan, Minister for Power Omer Ayub said that out of 8,610 feeders, no load management was being carried out on 6,610 feeders. He clarified that load management was only being carried out in the areas where line losses were high.

Omer Ayub said the present government has initiated a drive to improve recoveries and check power theft. “As a result of this drive, line losses have been reduced by 2.4 percent across the country, whilst recoveries witnessed an increase of 1.3 percent over the last four months.” He said more than 27,000 FIRs had been registered against people involved in power pilferage, and around 4,400 of them put behind the bars.

Responding to another calling attention notice regarding recent increase in the prices of petroleum products, Omer Ayub said that the government’s mission was to provide relief to the masses, and the government did not fully pass on the increase recommended by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA). He said unlike the previous government, the PTI rulers had reduced taxes on petroleum products in order to shield the consumers from the increase in oil prices in the international markets.

Several bills were laid before the House, including the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2019, The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, The Chamber of Agriculture Bill, The Prohibition of Forced Religious Conversion Bill, The Eradication of Riba Bill, The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill and the Constitution Amendment Bill (Article 51, 106). The house will now meet today (Wednesday) at 11am.