Ruckus in the house: PTI returns to NA, all guns blazing

Furious MPs encircle speaker’s dais after rejection of opposition’s privilege motions against PM.

ISLAMABAD: After a boycott of over two months, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf returned to parliament on Wednesday with a bang. The party’s lawmakers paralysed the house after Speaker Ayaz Sadiq rejected two privilege motions of the opposition against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panamagate scandal.

The privilege motions moved by the PTI and PPP seek to point out the ‘conflicting statements’ made by Premier Sharif about the wealth of his children that they have secreted in an offshore tax haven.

A new bench of the Supreme Court will take up next month a slew of petitions against the Sharif family in the Panamagate scandal. A five-judge larger bench, which was earlier hearing the case, was dissolved after the retirement of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.

On Wednesday, it all started when opposition leader Khursheed Shah lambasted Sharif for declaring before the apex court that his speech in parliament was a ‘political statement’.

After Shah’s speech, the PTI was expecting it would also be given a chance to speak on the matter. However, the speaker allowed Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique to speak on a point of order, prompting sloganeering from the PTI MPs.

The situation deteriorated when the speaker informed the house that he had already decided about the admissibility of the privilege motions and rejected them as per rules of the assembly as the “Panamagate case is pending before the apex court and is sub judice.”

Booing and shouting anti-Nawaz slogans, the PTI lawmakers besieged the speaker’s dais as they tore copies of the house agenda and started throwing them in the air. The speaker continuously assured the PTI legislators that they would be given a chance to speak but after Saad Rafique – but in vein.

The PTI legislators – who shouted ‘Chor [thief], Jhota [liar]’ – were joined by MNAs Sheikh Rashid and Jamshaid Dasti. This forced Rafique to cut short his speech and get dragged in an altercation with the PTI MPs. Meanwhile, the government MNAs also started raising slogans against PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Later, the speaker suspended the proceedings for 15 minutes. During this brief break, some federal ministers rushed to the opposition leader and PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi and requested them to calm down.

The proceedings resumed after 15 minutes and Saad Rafique was given the floor but as he started his speech the PTI MPs once again encircled the speaker’s dais, shouting slogans. In view of the situation, the speaker took no time to adjourn the proceedings till today [Thursday].

Khursheed Shah’s speech

Speaking on a point of order, Khursheed Shah strongly criticised the PML-N in general and Premier Sharif in particular for his ‘political speech’ on the floor of the house regarding money trail of his family’s properties and businesses.

Referring to the PTI’s sit-in in 2014, Shah said the PPP had supported the incumbent government for the sake of continuation of democracy but by declaring the premier’s speech as political, the government had attacked parliament from inside.

Sadiq asked Shah to refrain from commenting on a matter pending before the court. However, Shah said: “Parliament is supreme and more prestigious than any other institution of the country, including the Supreme Court.”

Even now people are surprised that how a PML-N judge has become the chief justice of Pakistan, he said. “Neither I nor you, but people on the social media are saying this. I believe he [CJP] is independent and respectable,” Shah clarified.

But the speaker snubbed him, saying that he should not criticise the country’s top judge. To this Shah said there was a dire need to find out reasons why general public believed in that propaganda.

“The prime minister should come to this house and inform us if politics is all about telling lies. There was a time when the Pakistani prime minister used to lead Gulf countries but now our PM is hiding behind a letter written by a Qatari prince.”

He talked about the sacrifices rendered by political workers to strengthen the parliament, saying the statement of political speech had weakened that prestigious forum. “It’s a pathetic thinking that politics is all about telling lies,” he said.

Outside the Parliament House, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the PTI just wanted the speaker to give a ruling after listening to both the sides.

“He [Sadiq] proved he is not neutral. As such decisions are not taken behind the walls but on the floor of the house,” he said. “The PTI vehemently rejects the speaker’s ruling over our motion. We returned to NA on a one-point agenda to raise the Panama Papers case,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2016.