The upper house of parliament on Monday witnessed pandemonium as leaders of the ruling party and opposition had an exchange of harsh words over the arrest of PML-N leader Captain (retired) Safdar.
Safdar was arrested from his hotel in Karachi a day after he raised slogans at the Quaid's mausoleum before the Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) second power show at Bagh-e-Jinnah.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against Maryam, Safdar and 200 others for violating the sanctity of the Quaid's mausoleum.
Later, Safdar was granted bail by a judicial magistrate against surety bonds of Rs100,000.
On Monday, the Senate session was held under the chairmanship of Sadiq Sanjrani.
Leader of the Opposition Raja Zafarul Haq condemned the registration of an FIR and police action against Safdar. He noted Nawaz’s son-in-law had been taken into custody for raising slogans at Quaid’s mausoleum.
Ruling party’s Senator Azam Swati took exception to Haq’s views and noted that facts should not be changed.
He maintained that Safdar had been taken into custody according to law as the Nawaz league activists had violated the sanctity of Quaid’s mausoleum and used abusive language there. He termed the PML-N leader’s act as “ethical and immoral”.
The PTI leader reprimanded the PML-N for hurling allegations of political interference against the armed forces and reiterated that the state institutions will be protected at every cost.
On Swati’s remarks, PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan lost his cool, after which, both the leaders had heated exchange of arguments.
The Senate chairman intervened and normalised the situation.
Commenting on Safdar’s arrests, Senators Raza Rabbani and Sherry Rehman of the PPP observed that the incident was a reminiscent of General Zia’s era.
They said that history would be witness to whatever was being done to the country
Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Wasim also censured the violation of sanctity of the Quaid’s mausoleum.
He said rather than condemning the act, the opposition parties were supporting the unfortunate incident. He called for a resolution in the Senate to condemn the happening.
Senator Faisal Javed stressed that the government would not give an NRO or compromise with the political leaders for their alleged corruption and money laundering.
He claimed that the opposition parties had united and were trying to pressurise the government for striking a deal by holding public gatherings.
Commenting on PDM’s Karachi rally, he said it was “weekend show” as people from the surrounding areas visited the metropolis to spend their weekly holidays and added that the participation of Karachiites was not even 5% as the locals had fully rejected these “corrupt elements”.
The session was adjourned until Tuesday (today).
With input from APP
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