The National Assembly on Thursday echoed with whistles as the opposition staged an unprecedented noisy protest.
The opposition members kept on hurling papers, sometimes in the form of paper airplanes, at the speaker’s dais, surrounded the dais and raised full-throated anti-government slogans after PTI MNAs tried to argue in favour of the 26th constitutional amendment bill that seeks to change the way votes are cast during Senate elections.
Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem had introduced the bill in the assembly. The discussion on the bill resumed on Thursday in a session chaired by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri.
The opposition members also created a ruckus as Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan took the floor of the assembly. Khan wasn’t able to complete his speech because of the noise.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi during his speech condemned the the opposition for their behaviour and warned that they had been tolerated with respect but “if you think we will let you bulldoze it [the bill], that will not happen”.
He reprimanded the opposition for being “two-faced” and stated that “this house cannot function” if their behaviour and refusal to listen to the government continued. “If they don’t want to listen then a one-sided debate cannot take place.”
The Foreign Minister said that the bill was brought to uncover the motives of candidates who came to the S
On the other hand, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed said that opposition leaders only give new deadlines for resignations to PM Imran but they never act on them. These thieves will not get NRO from the premier, he stated.
The minister also said that National Highway Authority (NHA) has planned to establish Emergency Response Centre on its network in a phased programme for emergency relief first aid medical services to accident victims and needy locals.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said that opposition is misleading the people with its bogus stance. In past, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) used to hurl allegations against each other, he added.
The minister said that democracy cannot prevail when lawmakers become corrupt. Government lands are being illegally occupied, he went on to say.
enate on the back of “horse trading” and had no “vision or support from any political party” and to root out and “defeat corrupt practices”.
