Speech in English silences Punjab Assembly

Address in question was delivered by PML-N’s Tahia Noon

LAHORE: One speech, delivered in English, managed to achieve the impossible by creating pin drop silence in Punjab Assembly where the majority of addresses are interrupted by the treasury or the opposition benches.

The speech in question was delivered by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Tahia Noon, who after seeking permission to speak from Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, went on to admire the vision of her leadership. This was backed by the din of PML-N lawmakers beating their desks.

Interestingly, the very next moment, Tahia began shedding light over the problems in her area of Bhalwal which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)-led government has allegedly ignored. A few PML-N’s lawmakers continued to thump their desks, perhaps believing that their colleague was indirectly admiring the development work initiated by Shehbaz Sharif.

The speech switched gears when Tahia pointed out that the treasury came down hard on the budget and the debts presented by the government.

Tahia was able to complete her speech successfully and Deputy Speaker Mazari did not have to ask any lawmaker to maintain decorum of the house.

On the fourth day of the “General discussion on the Annual Budget 2019-2020”, lawmakers from the treasury applauded the budget, while the opposition slammed the government for introducing an anti-people budget.

However, both sides shared one thing in common as they demanded to increase the share of their areas in the budget.

Later, a few lawmakers, keeping aside the real topic of discussion, confined their speeches to the point of “powers of taking decisions by leaders in tough times and preferred to sacrifice themselves for nation rather than greed”.

PTI’s Saeed Akbar Khan said Prime Minister Imran Khan sacrificed his interests for the nation as tough decisions are needed to put the country back on track.

Meanwhile, PPP’s Syed Hassan Murtaza grilled Akbar Khan, questioning what sort of tough decisions the prime minister has undertaken for the nation’s betterment. He asked the house whether these were the decisions which caused the prices of everyday items to skyrocket for the common man?

He pointed out that his leader, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, took decisions for the nation when he was offered the premiership for compromising the atom bomb. However, he preferred the nation and worked towards the atom bomb.

Former PML-N minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman suggested moving a privilege motion against the treasury for not providing the complete budget books. He said that there are five missing books in the bundle, which is tantamount to damaging the privilege of the house.

Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht expelled this impression, claiming a USB was given along with the budget and that everything was available. However, Mujtaba said the opposition was not given any USBs and the sticks were only given to the treasury.

PML-N’s Sohaib Ahmad Malik (Sargodha-I) said it was regrettable that PTI had allocated nothing for the education of differently-abled children. Bemoaning the current situation, he said floods have reached their doorsteps, but PTI had neither planned nor allocated anything to deal with the affected people.

This was also the second day when the opposition objected over CM’s Spokesperson Shehbaz Gill’s behaviour as he was reacting, laughing and clapping at the speeches delivered by treasury lawmakers while sitting in the officials’ gallery. However, prosecution minister Chaudhary Zahiruddin said it had been tradition for the Punjab CM’s spokesperson to sit in the officials’ gallery.

Proceedings started at 4:46pm while the scheduled time was 3pm. Later, the house was adjourned till 9am on Friday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2019.