Barbs fly as Senate rejects opp motion

Members stage a walkout over use of ‘coarse language’

ISLAMABAD:

The opposition and treasury benches continued to trade barbs in the Senate on Tuesday as the former protested over the absence of ministers and staged a walkout after the rejection of adjournment motion on the deteriorating economic situation in the country.

The Senate session was presided over by Sadiq Sanjrani.

Exchange of hard words was witnessed as Senator Faisal Javed stopped Senator Bahramand Tangi from intervening during Senator Mohsin Aziz’s speech.

As Javed spoke, Tangi called him “shameless”, which was misunderstood by Aziz as he thought the diatribe had been directed against him.

Tangi clarified saying he was referring to Javed and not to Aziz.

Addressing the Senate chairman, Tangi said that Aziz had used abusive language against him. Javed asked Sanjrani to expel Tangi from the House.

As the Senate chairman urged all the members to take their seats the opposition staged a walkout against the language used by Tangi.

Later, Senator Aziz submitted an adjournment motion over inflation in the country.

It noted that the country never witnessed a rise of Rs35 per litre in the price of petrol and that the rupee had slid to its lowest in the country’s history.

The Senate chairman called for voting on the adjournment motion. Nineteen votes were cast in its favour whereas 25 went against it after which Sanjrani rejected the motion.

The opposition staged a walkout over the rejection of the motion.

A written reply of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Saffron) stated that the registered number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan had exceeded 1.3 million in 2022.

It was said that the federal government had extended the registration process of Afghan refugees till March 31 after which their number would increase.

Expressing her concern, Dr Meher Taj Roghani noted that despite the rise in the prices of medicines by 40 per cent life-saving drugs were not available.

She maintained that difficulties were being faced in cardiac surgeries due to the non-availability of machinery and questioned the reason behind discontinuing Punjab health insurance scheme.

Awan observed that between 2019 and 2022 prices of essential medicines increased by 3 to 10 per cent. He said only the price of paracetamol had increased during their tenure, adding that they had reduced the prices of 20 essential medicines.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan told the house that a sanctuary for stray dogs was being established near Tarlai, Islamabad. The sanctuary would cost more than Rs90 million annually and Rs7 million monthly.

Later, the Senate session was adjourned till Friday.