Punjab Assembly: Rowdiness, walkout after lipstick attack

Pandemonium started when PML-Q’s Samina Hayat called a dissident of her party, Sheikh Alauddin, a ‘lota’.

LAHORE:

Women opposition lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly had to fend off nasty behaviour of treasury members, who criticised their role, hurled a bundle of assembly agenda at them and resorted to abusive language.

Incidentally, no opposition member even tried to rescue their women colleagues from unparliamentary behaviour.

The Wednesday session, which started an hour and a half late at 11.28am, witnessed another day of chaos, thumping desks and shouting matches. The session was presided over by Speaker PA Rana Muhamamd Iqbal Khan.

The pandemonium started when PML-Q’s Samina Khawar Hayat called one of her party’s dissident lawmaker, Sheikh Alauddin a ‘lota’ (turncoat).

Allauddin shouted at her, accusing her and other women opposition lawmakers of wasting Punjab government money on “your makeup”.

He said that women parliamentarians like Samina spent money they charged against their medical bills on their “makeup”.

Cursing such “extravagance,” Alauddin insisted that the Punjab government had been paying “their perks and privileges from public money”.

Samina Hayat tried to protest the remarks, but no one from the opposition came to her rescue.

When she started flinging various cosmetic items at Alauddin, he caught some of them, like a lipstick and powder holder, after they struck him in the face. Coming to Alauddin’s rescue, members of treasury benches started to protest over Samina’s actions.

This was when a number of members of opposition benches tried to shout down the treasury members.

PML-N’s Khalid Imtiaz Khan Baloch hurled a bundle of agenda papers at PML-Q’s Samuel Kamran which hit her in the face and passed abusive remarks. Kamran was about to start weeping when some of her colleagues approached her and encouraged her to remain determined.

PML-Q’s Muhammad Qamar Hayat Kathia, who tried to start a fist fight with Baloch, was restrained by his other colleagues.

There were at least two dozen lawmakers from both sides who had risen from their seats and started a brawl, but they were calmed down by Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhud Khan and PML-Q’s parliamentary leader Chaudhry Zahiruddin Khan.

Later, PPP’s Ashraf Sohna said that the provincial government was not serious in running the house business as treasury members lacked tolerance needed for smooth proceedings. He was speaking on a point of order.

Meanwhile, PML-N’s minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor interrupted Sohna, accusing him of “telling lies” and calling him and his colleagues “enemies of democracy”.

However, Sohna persisted and said that members of opposition benches had refrained from using derogatory language in the assembly at all times. Later, the provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan regretted that members on both sides of the political divide “crossed the limits of parliamentary norms”.

He said that the matter should be resolved in the speaker’s chambers and if members of the treasury benches were found guilty, he and other lawmakers would tender an apology before the house.

The speaker formed a committee to persuade the protesting opposition members to attend the session without any success.

Sheikh Alauddin, before tabling a motion in the provincial assembly, insisted before the house that he would not tender an apology for his behaviour.

Treasury benches introduced four new bills and passed seven pending ones in a house lacking members of the opposition benches.

The session was later adjourned till 10am on Thursday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2011.