Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Lower House of Parliament on Thursday again turned into a fish market by PTI and PML-N members when the PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi stood up and addressed the speaker as Ayaz Sadiq.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi also asked the prime minister to come to the house and explain the contradictions in his speech in the National Assembly and statement submitted in the Supreme Court. Just like happened on Wednesday legislators of both the PML-N and PTI shouted against each other for some time. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq tried to maintain order in the house but PML-N lawmakers began yelling when Qureshi started to address the speaker in a hostile manner. However, later on Qureshi was allowed to complete his speech.

The PTI leader regretted that the speaker rejected their privilege motion without hearing them and gave ruling that Panama papers issue was subjudice. He said that like the leader of the opposition, he should have been given the chance to speak on a point of order for a few minutes. “I would have presented my point of view on the privilege motion submitted by my party if you had given me 10 minutes after Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah spoke yesterday,” said Qureshi.

“I expect the speaker to protect the rights of minorities and the opposition. I might be alone and my voice might be weak, but I am speaking on behalf of eight million people,” said the veteran PTI leader. The PTI leader said he had seen the speaker coming under pressure from the government. He added that he would respect Sadiq (Speaker) if he was neutral, but would not refer to him as the ‘speaker’ if he sided with the government.

Referring to Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique’s comments yesterday, in which he called lawmakers from the PTI as ‘hooligans’, he said, “The Ministry of Railways referred to our protest yesterday as noise by ‘PTI’s hooligans’. This was all on record and it’s all over the news.” He said that the federal minister should apologize to the members. The speaker countered and said he would get the word ‘hooligans’ expunged from the house’s records. “We never spoke on Panamagate. We spoke about Nawaz Sharif lying on the floor of the parliament.”

About the PTI’s privilege motion, which was to be submitted on Wednesday, the PTI leader claimed that their privilege motion was trashed before it was even heard. “How can you give a ruling without listening to us?” questioned the PTI leader. “Senator Aitzaz Ahsan on television said what we’ve put forth is not subjudice.”