Punjab Assembly session: Bickering continues over Panamagate verdict

Opposition Leader Mehmoodur Rasheed says PM, showing grace and democratic spirit, should step down.

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly resonated with slogans on the fourth consecutive day as opposition and treasury lawmakers continued to trade barbs over the Panamagate verdict.

Chaos ensued on Thursday as Opposition Leader Mehmoodur Rasheed said the prime minister, showing grace and democratic spirit, should step down before the ‘third force’ intervenes.

The country, he claimed, was moving toward crises as the Sindh chief minister had also chanted slogans ‘Go Nawaz Go’ and the lawyers were also starting a movement against Nawaz Sharif. “Pakistan is earning bad name and its image has been tarnished all over the world,” he added. His comments drew the ire of the treasury benches and both sides started thumping their benches in favour of their leaderships.

Question Hour

During the question hour, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Minister Syed Haroon Ahmed Sultan Bukhari tried to walk out of the House in protest against the PML-N legislator’s interjection to focus on answering her question rather than resorting to rhetoric. Speaker Rana Iqbal’s timely intervention stopped the House from going into a heated debate between the legislators.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2017.