Speaker responds to parliament raid crisis

ISLAMABAD:

National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Wednesday moved swiftly to contain the damage wrought by a shocking raid on the Parliament House by issuing back-to-back orders related to production of 10 PTI lawmakers in the house and suspension of the assembly staff for dereliction of duty and complicity with the raiding party.

This is the culmination of a high drama in the Parliament House that saw an unprecedented raid by plainclothesmen in the early hours of Tuesday to flush out PTI lawmakers taking refuge in the National Assembly following a massive crackdown launched by the government on party leaders for flouting a law on political rallies.

The plainclothesmen stormed the building just after 3am - disconnecting the power supply and barging into the Services Branch of Parliament House to whisk away the PTI legislators.

The assault on parliament evoked strong condemnation from both sides of the aisle, who described it as a dark day in the country's parliamentary history.

The speaker's actions helped healed a rift between the treasury and the opposition benches and made the session move smoothly.

The speaker issued the production orders for 10 PTI MNAs after a delegation led party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan met him in his chamber.

The speaker also suspended Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly, along with four other security personnel over the arrests of lawmakers within the parliament premises for four months.

The speaker exercised his authority under Rule 108 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, 2007, to issue the production orders.

The PTI delegation, which included Dawar Kundi and Ali Muhammad Khan, met the speaker in his chamber to request the release orders.

The detained lawmakers have to be handed over to Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly before the commencement of the house proceeding, the order read.

Moreover, he also constituted a four-member fact-finding committee to be headed by the National Assembly joint secretary to investigate unlawful entry of plainclothesmen on the premises of the Parliament House.

The speaker also wrote a letter to the interior secretary, lodging a strong protest over the arrests of lawmakers from inside the house. Expressing this anguish over the incident, the speaker termed it a violation of sanctity of parliament. He asked the interior ministry to submit a report over the incident in a week.

Later, speaking to the media outside the Parliament House, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed that the speaker had issued the production orders for the arrested PTI members. "All the members will be present in the house tomorrow," he added.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly's Sergeant-at-Arms, Ashfaq Ashraf, has been suspended for four months, along with four other security personnel, following arrests made within the parliament building.

The speaker suspended the officers after a review of the incident in which several arrests were carried out on the premises. Security Assistant Waqas Ahmed and Junior Security Assistants Ubaidullah, Waheed Safdar, and Muhammad Haroon were also suspended for their involvement in the incident.

"During the period of his suspension, he will be entitled to draw pay and allowances as admissible under the applicable rules," the order read.

While not specifying the reason for the move, it said the action was taken under rule 5(1) (suspension and leave) of the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020.

Under the said rule, the appointing authority "may place any civil servant under suspension or send him on leave, against whom proceedings are proposed to be initiated for an initial period" of 120 days at one time.

Chairing the house, the speaker also announced the suspension of five employees of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) who were involved in switching the lights off and directed their removal from the duty at the Parliament House.

 

'Charter of parliament'

 

Speaker Sadiq has also proposed a "charter of parliament" to be signed between the government and opposition, aimed at fostering better cooperation despite ongoing leadership tensions.

During the session, Sadiq addressed parliamentarians, suggesting that regardless of whether party leaders agree, members of parliament could still work towards signing a cross-party charter. He stressed that the initiative would strengthen parliamentary conduct and collaboration.

Sadiq termed the assembly's atmosphere as "very good", noting that politicians across the board spoke "positively".

"Whether our leadership sits together or not, can we parliamentarians not sign a charter of parliament for the sake of parliament's betterment?" he asked.

"We should talk about the people and their issues," he said, calling on lawmakers to not indulge in personal attacks.

Sadiq called on the political parties to evolve a "charter of parliament" to ensure the smooth functioning of the House. He urged the opposition members to collaborate with the treasury benches in addressing common issues.

He noted that the opposition members had been given more time to speak in the House, stating that he had acted according to his conscience in handling the issues.

Sadiq also pointed out that during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, the opposition members were denied production orders to attend parliamentary proceedings.

However, he maintained that "two wrongs did not make a right" and remarked: "I do not agree what your [PTI] government's actions. Not issuing production orders was not the right thing to do then [and] it is not the right thing to do now".

"I will do what is appropriate, what is required and what is necessary for [upholding] the parliament's respect," he added.

The speaker further said that he would try to get to the bottom of what happened.

Later, the government and the opposition unanimously adopted a resolution agreeing to constitute a 18-member committee for resolving issues related to the house.

The resolution, tabled by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, called for the constitution of a parliamentary committee comprising members of the National Assembly (MNAs) from both treasury and opposition benches to discuss, analyse and propose recommendations regarding issues related to parliament and its smooth functioning.

Taking the floor, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif clarified that no one was "appreciating" the events that took place Monday night.

"If a precedent has been set here - of the police coming in - then it is a collective loss, it is a loss for this institution collectively and it is a loss for us individually," he said.

"But the maxim of equity of this is that people who demand equity, their hands should be clean," he added.

"So, I say when the police came in, it was a collective violation," he reiterated, adding "but if someone comes in and swears at us, we should condemn him too".

On the militant attacks in Balochistan and the Katcha area, Asif said that the house must "take cognisance in the future whenever it's happening - whether in Katcha or Balochistan.

"So that people know if they are in distress, people sitting in parliament are aware of that," he said.

Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai told Speaker Ayaz that he stood by him about the need for ensuring parliament's supremacy and keeping the institutions with their constitutional ambits.

"We are with you in upholding the supremacy of the Constitution, strengthening parliament and keeping every institution within the purview of the Constitution," he said, during his speech in the assembly.

Achakzai added that the developments that unfolded during the PTI's political event did not mandate an attack on the Parliament House.

"It is unacceptable to use Ali Amin Gandapur's words as an excuse to attack parliament," he said, adding that the attack was unjustified and highly condemnable.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar called for unity among all the political parties for the strengthening of democracy and the Constitution, warning that ongoing political conflicts could undermine the respect of the parliament.

Speaking in the National Assembly on point of order, Ishaq Dar highlighted that political engagement is essential, but red lines should not be crossed.

Welcoming Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's proposal, he said the government fully endorsed the proposal to form high-powered committee of the Parliament so that a policy can be evolved to take the country forward with collective wisdom.

Ishaq Dar recalled that discussions for the Charter of Democracy (CoD) began in February 2002 between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

 

Committee

 

An 18-member special committee has been formed for a charter of parliament among the political parties.

The special committee will consist of 12 members from treasury and 6 members from the opposition. The committee will draft its recommendations for the parliament, parliamentarians, Constitution, National Assembly rules and business and smooth sailing of the parliament's proceedings.

According to a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the special committee has been formed under National Assembly rules 244 B. Members from all the political parties will have representation in the special committee.

The special committee's members include Ishaq Dar, Khwaja Asif, Khursheed Shah, Navid Qamar, Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Syed Aminul Haq, Chaudhry Salik, Abdul Aleem Khan, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Akhtar Mengal, Barrister Gohar, Hamid Hussain, Shahida Akhtar Ali, Hamid Raza, Khalid Magsi, Baloch, Aijazul Haq and Mehmood Khan Achakzi.