Bringing the house down: Budget debate marred by unruly lawmakers

Opposition and treasury benches lash out at each other, chant slogans.

PESHAWAR:

The opening debate on the new provincial budget in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly session was a fiery one, with angry opposition members forcing a minister to retract his remarks.

There was such a ruckus on the floor of the house that deputy speaker Imtiaz Shahid, who was presiding over the session, found himself unable to restore order and pacify the unruly opposition members.

What should have been an auspicious occasion for the members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was inevitably dominated by enraged members who took Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai to task for his attack on another lawmaker.

At the start of the session, not a single member was seated on the opposition benches. Finance Minister Sirajul Haq then asked the deputy speaker to call out the names of opposition members, saying if they do not respond the speaker should proceed with the session.

Qaumi Watan Party lawmaker Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, however, intervened and said it was not a good precedent to start proceedings yet as the budget debate traditionally kicks off with the opposition taking the lead. Upon this, the deputy speaker adjourned the session for 10 minutes and directed Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai and Sardar Idrees to inquire about the presence of the opposition.

When the session resumed, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker Nighat Orakzai while speaking on a point of order said the government needed to adopt a clear strategy to deal with terrorism. She cited the recent killing of two lawmakers, Farid Khan and Imran Mohmand, within a short span of three weeks.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Syed Janan also criticised the intelligence agencies and government for their failure to curb terrorism. However, trying to counter the argument, Yousafzai told Janan that Orakzai was acting as if “the sky had fallen”.

Upon Yousafzai’s comment, the opposition benches erupted in disapproval and several members stood on their seats, shouting at the lawmakers occupying the treasury benches.

Yousafzai tried, but in vain, to clarify his position in the face of loud resistance. Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid also tried to pacify the opposition, but his voice was drowned out in the racket.

When the treasury benches did get a chance, Yousafzai shot back at Orakzai, saying she had been a part of Musharraf’s government for 10 years. This added fuel to the already growing flames of discontent as those occupying the treasury benches chanted ‘shame, shame!’ while the opposition resorted to desk thumping and anti-government sloganeering.

In a bid to restore order in the assembly, Yousafzai later announced he was retracting his remarks. Consequently, the deputy speaker asked Yousafzai to wrap his speech up, suggesting the assembly should proceed with the budget debate.

‘No development without peace’

Upon taking the floor, Opposition Leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan urged the treasury and opposition benches to maintain decorum and refrain from personal attacks. He, however, stressed it was the opposition’s role to take on the government.

Criticising the financial proposal, Mehtab said “it is a visionless budget”. He said the government cannot change anything before restoring law and order which, he added, was nowhere to be seen.

“You will build schools and they will blow [them] up; you will build hospitals, but no one will be ready to take up duties due to lack of facilities,” he said, urging the government to take initiatives for capacity-building of the police and streamlining the process of collecting intelligence data. In his speech, Awami National Party’s  parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak also focused on law and order, saying unless there was peace there could not be any development.

Unanimous decision: Sardar Mehtab elected leader of opposition

Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan from the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) was elected as the opposition leader in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Thursday. K-P Assembly Secretariat also issued a notification for Mehtab’s appointment as the leader of opposition in the house.

The four-party opposition comprising PML-N, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) met at the assembly and unanimously decide on Mehtab’s appointment.

Mehtab has also served as the chief minister for two and a half years in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure. He was made the PML-N’s parliamentary leader after the May 11 general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2013.