Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former National Assembly Speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza said that actions, not words could differentiate the speaker and the servant as the speaker had to decide by applying his own mind while the servant was destined to obey their master. She said that she took exception to the disqualification reference sent to the National Assembly by registrar supreme court of Pakistan during her tenure as speaker against former PM Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and she added that it was rejected because speaker was not a servant who would obey orders.

The Speaker was a custodian of the National Assembly, she said, adding that it was the mother of all state institutions. The Speaker’s affiliation with his or her political party came to end after assuming the charge of the speakership. She said that she had to endure a lot of pressure from her political party for giving more time to the opposition during the proceedings of the assembly and she claimed to reject the criticism and maintained her impartiality.

The estranged PPP leader was speaking on the National Assembly floor on defence day to highlight the role of speaker in the context of the latest controversy, which erupted after the disqualification of Imran Khan. Thin attendance of the treasury’s parliamentarians in NA proceeding and lacklustre attitude of the government on defence day also saddened her and she called upon the ruling political party to change its governing style and solve the pressing problems of the poor on a priority basis.

She said that she did not want to comment further on the ruling of speaker Ayaz Sadiq against Imran Khan and Jehangir Tarin because she had not studied the documents attached with the reference so far.

She said that she maintained her impartiality as speaker while conducting the national assembly proceedings and granted enough time to then opposition to speak on the issues confronting the nation as it was their right. The government ruled the country with its majority in the assembly in a democratic set up and the option left for the opposition was to speak on point of order and to release catharsis by highlighting government weaknesses.

She said the government should not be afraid of opposition criticism as constructive criticism was a useful tool for the incumbent regime in order to overcome weakness.