National Assembly's speaker must display a fair stance so that democracy gets stronger in Pakistan
LAHORE: When Khawaja Asif made unparliamentary remarks against PTI’s Shireen Mazari in the National Assembly on June 8, the speaker’s handling of the matter was far from impartial. The speaker took a clearly partisan position, siding with Khawaja Asif. I was surprised to hear the speaker stating to the opposition, “You provoked Khawaja Asif.” It is the job of the opposition to criticise the government but it does that mean that Khawaja Asif should go to the extent of using derogatory remarks against opposition members? No, not at all.
The speaker of the National Assembly must be impartial and must display a fair stance so that democracy gets stronger in Pakistan. It is the duty of the speaker to ensure that all members of parliament, especially women, are respected during the proceedings of the National Assembly and make it a point to publicise that no member of the assembly has any right to hurl personal insults against another member.
Ejaz Ahmad Magoon
Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2016.
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