The National Assembly condemned on Monday the storming of Parliament House by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek supporters and their illegal occupation of its lawns.
Members of the lower house also condemned the mob attack on Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) headquarters and the vandalising and looting of the state-run broadcaster’s equipment.
Parliament Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said the actions had breached the sanctity of the august house. “Those parties which are talking about the law and the Constitution are themselves involved in violating the law,” he said.
Parliament remained in session for an hour amid chaos and disturbances created by the two protesting parties on the Constitution Avenue and within the parliament’s compound. Few lawmakers had bothered to show up in the wake of the hostile confrontation between policemen and the rioting protesters.
Neither the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nor any senior federal minister attended the session due to their engagement in meetings.
Still the National Assembly session was attended by Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and two PTI’s dissident members –Nasir Khattak and Musarrat Zaib – who openly opposed the decision of their leader to submit the resignations. Both members of the PTI received a rousing reception during their speeches in support of democracy and supremacy of parliament.
Nasir Khattak of PTI, however, avoided talking about his party leader Imran Khan. Instead, his venom was directed at PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri whom he called ‘a terrorist of foreign origin’.
“We should rescue the country from Dr Qadri like characters and prevent them from pushing our country into the throes of civil war which is his prime agenda,” he claimed. Khattak said Qadri is a ‘big liar who is part of a wider conspiracy to destroy the country and dismantle its systems”.
“I am here today to back the Constitution and parliament rather than those who are hell bent upon imposing another dictatorship upon the country,” he said. He voiced fear that a future dictatorship could push the country into a civil war.
Musarrat Zaib of PTI also pledged to protect the Constitution. “This house is sacred and its sanctity should be upheld at all costs,” said Mussarat.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Asiya Nasir strongly objected to the occupation of parliament house compound by the protesting parties and said that they had created political chaos and disorder.
She proposed moving a privilege motion against this vandalism by protesting parties and said that parliamentarians cannot be threatened by such moves.
Owais Laghari of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) said Javed Hashmi had exposed the undemocratic moves of PTI chief Imran Khan.
“These two parties were waiting for a signal from the army, but they should understand that the army had already sent out the message that it has no interest in wrapping the system,” he said.
Leghari said Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri were protesting for their personal satisfaction and ego and they had no interest in the country and its people. “Both men are using women and children as human shields,” he said.
“Those who are talking about democracy in the west do not know that in those countries no one can dare to cross the yellow lines drawn by security forces. But these people crossed even the red lines despite pledges not to do so,” he added.
Meanwhile, media persons walked out from the session in protest against the violence on newsmen, who were covering the PTI and the PAT marches towards Prime Minister House on Saturday night.
State Minister Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed assured the lower house that an inquiry would be held into the incident and that the prime minister himself would look into the same.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2014.
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It is so surprising that in nearly 70 years of existence, Pakistan has not managed to build ONE institution that enjoys the peoples' trust. It makes you wonder if there is a concerted plan to undermine institutions every now and then so that they don't take root.