PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari makes his speech in National Assembly. PHOTO: FILE
During the National Assembly session, Bilawal, senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah, as well as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Khawaja Saad Rafique, slammed Prime Minister Khan's comments about the opposition lawmakers on microblogging social media website earlier.
Taking the floor, the PPP chairman asked the prime minister to come to parliament, and face the opposition instead of using Twitter to comment on parliamentary proceedings and matters related to travel bans on his party's top leaders.
He was referring to a tweet by the prime minister in which he asked why lawmakers were "so scared" of the Exit Control List (ECL) and why they were so keen to go abroad. The PPP chairman said it did not matter to him whether or not his name stayed on the ECL.
"I don't care if they remove my name [from the ECL] or not. By removing my name, the government will not do me a favour. It does not make any difference to me whether or not the government removes my name [from the ECL]," Bilawal said.
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However, he said, the Supreme Court has directed the government to remove his name from the no-fly list. He stressed that it was a matter of basic human rights. "Democratic governments do care about the basic human rights, puppet governments do not," said Bilawal.
Taking a jibe at Khan, he said had the prime minister shown up at parliament, he could have responded to his tweet face-to-face. He asked the prime minister to come to the assembly and face the opposition.
Bilawal also talked about the Supreme Court ruling which rejected the Sindh government's request for ownership of three major hospitals in Karachi and ordering that the federal government continue to keep their ownership.
"A full order has not yet come so I will not be able to speak on it in detail," Bilawal said, adding that if the Supreme Court takes away these hospitals from Sindh, it will be impossible for him to explain to his people how this was not an attack on the 18th Amendment.
He added that annual budget of one of the three hospitals, the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (NICVD) was Rs14 billion and the people of the Sindh were getting treatment free of charge. "You people have been asking for donations from all over the world; how would you arrange Rs14 billion to continue the facility of free treatment in NICVD?" he posed a question to the Treasury benches.
Further talking about the 18th Constitutional Amendment, he said that provinces could not compromise on their economic rights. "Mr Speaker, people from your province [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] had been struggling for their rights. They got their rights, we will not let anyone deprive them of their rights."
The PPP chairman also talked about the meeting of opposition members and said it was agreed that there would be no compromise on the economic, human and democratic rights of the people. He expressed the hope that the government allies would also support the opposition initiative.
Bilawal was confident that parliament will complete its tenure. "The PPP and the PML-N governments completed their constitutional tenures which is a historical success of democracy and present parliament will also complete its tenure, achieving another landmark," he said. He warned: "We will not compromise if the democracy is attacked."
Speaking next, senior PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah also criticised Prime Minister Khan, saying that the premier was "running parliament with tweets". Shah said the beauty of parliament lay in the presence of both the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition.
Govt decides to remove Bilawal, Murad's names from no-fly list
"Those who are running parliament in this manner are also running the country in a similar manner," said Shah, adding that, five months have passed, yet no legislation had been put forth in the lower house.
"A comparison of our government's first five months with this government's five months will reveal everything, said the former opposition leader. "PM Imran did not come to the previous parliament sessions as he thought it was a fake parliament," added Shah.
"The July elections had 60-70 punctures, is this the reason why the prime minister is not coming to parliament and tweeting instead," asked the senior PPP leader. "We talk about the law and the Constitution, on the other hand, you [the treasury benches] are busy destroying it," said the PPP leader.
Responding to Bilawal's speech, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Murad Saeed said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif spoke about "dragging [former president] Asif Zardari in the streets of Lahore".
He also said that those, whose [ill-gotten] properties were revealed, were helped to flee the country." In his counter-attack against Bilawal he said that the PPP chief liked the Supreme Court decision of removing his name from the ECL but disliked the same court's verdict on the hospitals.
Defending Prime Minister Khan's controversial tweet, he said it had a background. "The PTI never said it was repealing the 18th Amendment," he said. "It would have been better, if we were discussing elimination of poverty and the economic policies."
Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif, in his speech, clarified that he had walked out from the National Assembly on Monday in protest against the "insulting remarks" of PTI leader Faisal Vawda. He alleged that instead of responding to a question raised by the opposition benches, foul language was used.
Speaker Asad Qaiser responded that he had talked to both the government and the opposition leaders about the issue, adding that both sides have reached an understanding that they would not insult any leader, and that leaders from the two sides would criticise each other in a civilised manner.
Defence Minister Pervez Khattak offered his personal guarantee that no one would indulge in any unparliamentary activity. "It is becoming a laughing stock," he said. Extending olive branch, Sharif said the opposition would come forward two steps if [members of the ruling parties] spoke in a positive manner.
Khawaja Saad Rafique of the PML-N said that unfortunately the prime minister and all the ministers were using foul language. "Imran Khan must realise that former military ruler Pervez Musharraf's spokesman is now his spokesman too," he said, warning against demeaning each other.
The PML-N leader warned the members of treasury benches that they will be on the opposition benches after a few months. "You will have to face consequences, if you don't give up [the bad habit of calling names]," he said.
Rafique advised the government to adopt seriousness. "I will advise the prime minister to take sincere friends and come down from container and lead the country. We do not recognise your mandate but do not want to bring you down. We fear we might derail democracy while trying to topple you," he said.
"First Yusuf Raza Gillani was expelled and then Nawaz Sharif. We don't want Imran Khan to meet the same fate. Prime ministers should not be expelled through such decisions. Let's sit together to put a full stop [to this process]."
Referring to the opposition's closing of ranks in a meeting earlier this week, Rafique said that Prime Minister Khan should not consider it an alliance against him. "We want you to deliver 10% of the moon and stars you promised before the election." He also said that the Charter of Democracy should be offered to all political parties.
During the proceedings, PML-N's Rana Sanaullah raised the issue of slain SP Tahir Dawar and said that terrorists, with "their damaged back", abducted a police officer from the capital. "Did [someone] ask a question from the institutions responsible for it?" he asked.
State minister Ali Mohammad Khan responded, saying it's the opposition's right to ask questions. He added that "we should also know what was happening in the past", how people managed to visit Murree without visa and why the name of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was avoided.
Also during the question hour, the finance ministry informed the house that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had issued notices to 3,121 individuals so far and in response 154 tax returns worth Rs21 billion have been submitted. The FBR has received some clues of thousands of unregistered cases of tax theft, the reply said.
At the outset of the session, Speaker Asad Qaiser read out the statement pertaining to the suspension of 72 MNAs, whose membership was suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) a day earlier for failing to submit details of their assets.
The speaker said that the suspended lawmakers could not take part in the business of the house as well as standing committees. NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal and Balochistan National Party (BNP) chief, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, are among the MNAs whose membership has been suspended.
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