Treasury vows to support Nawaz Sharif

Pandemonium takes place in house as legislators repose confidence in ousted PM

LAHORE: Pandemonium was witnessed at the Punjab Assembly after the treasury benches passed a resolution and reposed their confidence in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

They said they would deal with every conspiracy against their leader on the constitutional and political front. This is the first resolution that was passed in the assembly after former prime minister’s disqualification.



Moved by the Provincial Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Minister Tahir Khalid Sindhu, the House paid tribute to the former premier and commended his efforts for putting the country on the road to progress and prosperity.

There were only two legislators of the opposition benches Muhammad Arif Abbasi and Asif Mehmood, who strongly opposed the resolution, saying it is shameful that the country’s top court had disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Sandhu, while reading the content of the resolution, said, “The House pays tribute to Nawaz for making Pakistan the seventh superpower and first Islamic atomic power, starting historical China Pakistan Economic-Corridor (CPEC) project, eliminating terrorism, launching National Action Plan, starting operation Zarb-e-Azb and Operation Raddul Fasaad and also coming up with different projects to deal with electricity crisis.”

According to the resolution, the House vowed to fight against every conspiracy hatched against the public leader who “brought Pakistan on the road to progress”.

“The House will unveil any conspiracy hatched against democracy and the politics of the conspirators will be buried forever. The activities of such elements are tantamount to creating obstacles in the way of country’s development.”

The opposition benches, meanwhile, strongly opposed the heavy traffic jam in the city due to the Independence Cricket Cup being played at the Gaddafi Stadium. They suggested cricket players should be taken to the stadium via helicopters instead of by road.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf MPA Murad Rass suggested that the players should be taken to the stadium and to their hotels via helicopters. Opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said patients, school and college-going students were facing a lot of difficulties due to the jams.

Responding to the opposition’s reservations, Sandhu said the traffic jam was an issue, but people should see the positive side of it too. “Earlier, nobody was willing to play cricket in Pakistan and now all teams, including England, want to play in the country.” He also assured that he would hold meeting with CTO and CPO and CCPO for the smooth flow of traffic.



Replying to a question from Jamaat-e-Islami legislator Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar who asked why the government was collecting tax from hotels that are delivering alcohol, Minister Excise and Taxation Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said the government’s job was to collect levies and not issue fatwas.

The JI legislator observed a token boycott and left the House after the minister replied to the question. Later, he returned to the House after a few minutes. The opposition benches pointed to the lack of quorum three times.

However, three bills were introduced, six ordinances were tabled while the time frame of three of them (six ordinances) was extended. Later, Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan adjourned the House for today at 10am.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2017.