Punjab Assembly: Opp outraged by Sanaullah’s ‘death threats’ to Awan

Sanaullah insists his ‘wajibul qatl’ comments were taken out of context.

LAHORE:

Punjab Assembly proceedings had to be suspended for close to two hours on Wednesday after the house erupted in uproar over statements made by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah about his former federal government counterpart Babar Awan.

Speaking on a point of order at the start of the day, which began an hour late, Opposition Leader Raja Riaz demanded that Sanaullah apologise for saying Awan was ‘wajibul qatl’, meaning he should be killed. He said that Sanaullah had put Awan’s life in danger.

Sanaullah stood up to respond, but was disrupted by the chanting of slogans, shouting and thumping of desks by opposition members. The treasury benches responded in kind, and Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal had to suspend proceedings for one hour. They resumed at 2pm, after Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif assured the opposition leader that Sanaullah would not make any further such comments.

On June 10, Sanaullah had described Awan and Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa as “black sheep in black coats”. He alleged that both were known to bribe judges on their clients’ behalf. He said that lawyers hated “elements like them” and “often eliminate such elements from their community”. He called Awan wajibul qatl.

Sanaullah told The Express Tribune that his statement had been taken out of context. He said that he had described the perspective of the lawyers’ community and he stood by it. He said that the opposition was trying to create an uproar during the session to divert attention from the opposition leader’s “embarrassing performance” during the budget debate.

‘Friend of terrorists’

During the break, Riaz and other PPP MPAs told a press conference that if any harm came to Awan, the case should be registered against Sanaullah and the chief minister.

Riaz alleged that Sanaullah had close ties with banned militant groups like Sipah-i-Sahaba. He said that Sanaullah’s statement would provoke the sorts of people that killed Salmaan Taseer.

He said that Sanaullah was involved in Taseer’s killing and was now preparing to kill another outspoken PPP leader. He said that Sanaullah wanted to control southern Punjab through sectarian violence.

PPP Parliamentary Leader Major (r) Zulfiqar Gondal said that Sanaullah had “recruited many like Mumtaz Qadri”, Taseer’s self-confessed assassin. He claimed Sanaullah was also involved in the killing of minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti.

Back in the house

The chief minister later called Riaz to his chamber and assured him that Sanaullah would not say such words about the leaders of the opposition party.

When proceedings resumed, Sanaullah told the house that his statement about Awan had been made from a lawyer’s point of view as he was lawyer.

Riaz while accepting his clarification said that the matter would be discussed further at a meeting of parliamentary leaders on Thursday.

Gondal, speaking during the general discussion on the budget, said that the PML-Nawaz’s leadership was seeking revenge against General Pervez Musharraf by maligning the army. He said that the PML-N’s leadership had ditched the military establishment and joined hands with the American Central Intelligence Agency. He said that the Sharif brothers were hypocrites, as demonstrated by recent WikiLeaks revelations of their stance on the reinstatement of the deposed chief justice in 2009.

In a statement, Minister for Finance and Minorities Affairs Kamran Michael condemned Wednesday’s rowdy scenes in the assembly, saying they defied democratic norms. He said the opposition parties should play a positive role and refrain from negative tactics.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.