Daily Times

The major opposition parties in the National Assembly on Thursday gave a tough time to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as their protest continued even on fourth day of the session.

During the Thursday’s session, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) women legislators raised the issue of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement in which he had referred to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as ‘sahiba’. Calling the remarks an utter disrespect to the women, they invited the PTI legislators too to join them in the protest as it was the matter of respect of the entire womenfolk.

The women MNAs from opposition parties protested against the prime minister’s remarks and demanded that they be allowed to speak on a point of order. They surrounded the speaker’s dais and tore copies of the agenda after Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan rose to address the session. The deputy speaker then gave the floor to PPP MNA Nafisa Shah to raise the point of order.

In her address, Nafisa Shah condemned what she claimed the misogynistic remarks made by the prime minister at a rally a day earlier. “This humiliation, misogyny and hatred is not against the PPP or Bilawal,” she said. “In fact it is a reflection of the misogynistic thinking,” she said, and called it an insult to the women as well as the cultural values of Pakistan. “This respect is part of our core values, and I ask those from the tribal areas: is it not in your core values that you respect your women?” she said

“This is an insult to the post of prime minister. If he does not take back his words, I will say that he is not my prime minister,” she said. “Whenever the prime minister says something, it is said that it was a ‘slip of tongue’,” she added. “I am not doing politics but standing in solidarity with the women,” she explained. “It is our demand that the prime minister comes to the parliament and apologises to the women. If the prime minister does not do this, then ‘Go Imran Go’ will echo from here to Wana,” she warned.

Amid protest, the House passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The bill was moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.

During the question hour, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said construction work of Karachi-Quetta road is underway. He said a national road safety policy has been formulated to provide better facilities to the commuters and cut the number of traffic accidents. He said the policy will be implemented with the cooperation of the provinces. He said a bulk of projects are being carried out in Balochistan.

Murad Saeed said dualisation of Karachi Northern Pass has been planned and that construction work on the project will start by the end of this year after hiring the services of consultants and the contractor. He assured the House that the revenue collected from the toll plazas will be spent on the maintenance of the highways.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Farogh Naseem asked the opposition parties to support the government in the process of new legislation. He said the government is committed to eradicating corruption and the mischievous practices. “The government is pursuing an agenda of accountability across the board,” he said, adding that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is working as an independent institution.