Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly witnessed uproar Wednesday after Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif made offensive remarks against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Shireen Mazari.

Using derogatory language specifically targeting the PTI’s chief whip, Kh Asif pointed towards Mazari and said, “Someone make this tractor trolley keep quiet,” as she and some other lawmakers protested to his speech on load shedding during the holy month of Ramazan.

“Make her voice more feminine,” he added. Another lawmaker chimed in from the government benches to say, “Keep quiet, aunty.”

Moments earlier, the minister was seen briefing the lawmakers on the state of load shedding during Ramazan. “We are making efforts so that those who are fasting spend their sehri, iftari and tarawih without being affected by the load shedding crisis,” Asif told the House.

Opposition lawmakers, including Mazari, vocally opposed the minister’s claims. Amid the uproar, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq called for order, requesting the opposition benches to quiet down and listen to Asif’s speech. “Wait until it is your turn to respond,” Sadiq said.

The opposition, however, did not halt their protest, upon which Asif said, “They can’t get their affairs in order but they criticise others,” following which he made the pointed remark at Mazari, asking for her to be silenced.

The obnoxious remarks were strongly condemned by the opposition members, forcing National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to expunge those words from the proceedings.

Shireen Mazari stood on her desk and termed Kh Asif’s remarks as an insult to women. “This attitude is wrong. He is insulting women,” she said.

When Mazari argued with the speaker’s decision of expunging the words from the record, Asif said, “I am not going to apologise, they can do whatever they want.”

Ayaz Sadiq ordered Mazari to sit down and ‘let him do his job’. Shifting the blame for Asif’s outburst onto Mazari, the speaker said, “Why didn’t you sit then? You kept on speaking,” he told the PTI’s chief whip.

Responding to Kh Asif’s outburst, PTI Spokesman Naeemul Haq said, “Khawaja Asif should be hung upside down for his vulgarity and misbehaviour, and be beaten with a shoe 25 times in the morning and 25 times in the evening.”

PTI’s Shafqat Mehmood said Kh Asif, who he had known for 50 years, was an intelligent and well-dressed person but “whenever he is under pressure, he cannot keep his tongue in control.”