Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: All lawmakers, with the exception of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, gave Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a rousing welcome upon his arrival in the National Assembly on Friday. Nisar and the PM only shook hands when the latter reached his seat on the front row. MQM legislators Rashid Godil, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Kanwar Dilshad and Naveed Jamil also came forward to greet the PM and engaged in a conversation with him. However, Nisar silently remained seated throughout the conversation and did not even bother to cast a glance at the PM, who remained engaged in sharing light moments with other legislators. On the other hand, SAFRON Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch initiated his speech with reference to FATA reforms besides briefing upon the recommendations given by FATA reforms committee. Nisar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar remained engaged in a courteous conversation but the former chose not to speak with the PM even for a single minute.

Nisar left the house and went outside before Qadir Baloch wrapped up his speech. As soon as he left his seat, Dar took his seat and kept on talking with the PM. Soon after that, PM Sharif also left the house as soon as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Jehangir Tareen started his speech. Moreover, the MQM legislators also followed PM and left the parliament. It was also witnessed that most of the PML-N lawmakers left the house with the PM’s departure while only PTI, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and legislators belonging to FATA chose to remain in the parliament. Earlier in the day, Abdul Qadir Gillani, son of former PM Yousuf Raza Gillani, had to wait in traffic for a long time near Radio Pakistan building for PM Sharif’s convoy to pass through. When the PM left for the parliament, all the avenues leading to the NA were blocked due to security reasons. Therefore, Gillani had to wait until the roads were reopened for traffic restoration. This may have reminded Gillani of the time when roads were blocked for his father’s convoy when he used to be at the helm of affairs.