Delimitation, shoes dominate assembly session

MPAs argue over plot to throw show at Imran Khan; opposition decries delimitation

LAHORE: Shoe throwing was the hot topic of the day at the Punjab Assembly session. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf expressed their grave concern over the attempt of a man, who was allegedly asked by provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah, to throw a shoe at Imran Khan. The opposition MPAs said such acts would not yield positive results for any political party.

On a point of order, PTI’s Dr Murad Rass first condemned the incident in which a shoe was thrown at former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, but quickly moved onto condemning the reports of various TV channels which showed a man admitting he was tasked by Rana Sanaullah to throw shoe at the PTI chief.

Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan said this was not a good omen, adding that leaders must be respected. However, Rass continued to complain against Sanaullah’s alleged act. Some legislators of the treasury also reacted to Rass’s allegation, but the speaker did not entertain them and instead focused on the next item on the agenda.

The matter of delimitation by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was also another heated topic which the opposition termed as pre-poll rigging. It claimed a “plot” was designed in the office of Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique. Opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said ECP violated the rules and designed new constituencies. He claimed there was substantial information that PML-N’s legislators were assigned the task of working on the move. Rasheed stated that those who were handed the task took a month to work on it and the ECP designed the delimitation after their efforts.



He said the NA-122 constituency was divided into ten pieces and there was a massive shuffling of areas. The opposition leader stressed that this was tantamount to pre-poll rigging and he would now allow this to happen. He added that an appeal would be filed against the new ECP constituencies. He also demanded that the commission provide staff to facilitate those who wanted to get required documents of their constituencies to file appeals.

The speaker said “you have the right to file an appeal and if your stance is valid, it will be accepted. Meanwhile, Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu dispelled the impression that a plot was designed in Rafique’s office at Mayo Garden. However, he admitted that legislators of ruling party also have strong reservations over delimitations.

Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal also said his constituency was also divided into two pieces. To this, the opposition leader quipped and said this was done to help the speaker himself. On Monday, the House started at 2:47pm while the scheduled time was of 2pm. This time again, the government failed to show the required number of its legislators in the House after independent candidate Ahsan Riaz Fatyana pointed to the lack of quorum. The insufficient number of government’s MPAs forced the speaker to adjourn the House till 10am on Wednesday.

During the question-answer session, PTI’s Dr Nausheen Hamid pointed out that the UET University is the hub of drugs, while PML-N’s Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education Mehwish Sultana expelled the impression.

Another question was put forward by PTI’s minority MPA Shunila Ruth and it was related to the drug control programme. This created an interesting situation in which Minister for Primary & Secondary Health Khawaja Imran Nazeer said the question should be put to the Excise department as it was not related to his department. However, she said it was an issue which needed to be taken seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2018.