National Assembly session: Ugly face-off over Shaikh Rasheed’s offloading
Law minister urges lawyers to await investigation findings into the attack.
Law minister urges lawyers to await investigation findings into the attack. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah faced off in the assembly session on Monday amidst a bout of intense sloganeering by members of the ruling and opposition parties.
The confrontation came during an hour-long debate over how Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad was stopped from taking a Canada-bound flight last week following instructions from US officials to airline and airport staff.
PkMAP leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai attempted to calm the two leaders down but when both refused to shake hands, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq adjourned the proceedings.
On March 21, Rasheed was off-loaded from a PIA flight when he was en route to Toronto. Rasheed moved a privilege motion on Monday, demanding a special committee probe the incident. While the speaker refused, Chaudhry Nisar assured Rasheed that the matter would be dealt with as a special case.
Opposition leader Khursheed Shah termed the matter a ‘stigma on national integrity and dignity’. “Why has the government obeyed the orders of a US officer?” he asked, saying, “An elected member was insulted and off-loaded from a national flag carrier on the orders of an American officer – why has the government not lodged a protest?”
PTI’s Shah Mahmood Quraishi remarked that ‘the government should take a clear stance on the issue’. The former foreign minister said, “I remember how Americans were concerned about the issue of visa delays and they always made a talking point of such incidents at the highest level.”
Chaudhry Nisar said the government has consented to refer the issue to a privilege committee. “I can present the agreement which was inked between the PPP government and the US due to which Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed were off-loaded,” he retorted, referring to an incident when the PTI chief was off-loaded from a US-bound flight to Toronto and questioned by theUS authorities.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2014.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah faced off in the assembly session on Monday amidst a bout of intense sloganeering by members of the ruling and opposition parties.
The confrontation came during an hour-long debate over how Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad was stopped from taking a Canada-bound flight last week following instructions from US officials to airline and airport staff.
PkMAP leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai attempted to calm the two leaders down but when both refused to shake hands, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq adjourned the proceedings.
On March 21, Rasheed was off-loaded from a PIA flight when he was en route to Toronto. Rasheed moved a privilege motion on Monday, demanding a special committee probe the incident. While the speaker refused, Chaudhry Nisar assured Rasheed that the matter would be dealt with as a special case.
Opposition leader Khursheed Shah termed the matter a ‘stigma on national integrity and dignity’. “Why has the government obeyed the orders of a US officer?” he asked, saying, “An elected member was insulted and off-loaded from a national flag carrier on the orders of an American officer – why has the government not lodged a protest?”
PTI’s Shah Mahmood Quraishi remarked that ‘the government should take a clear stance on the issue’. The former foreign minister said, “I remember how Americans were concerned about the issue of visa delays and they always made a talking point of such incidents at the highest level.”
Chaudhry Nisar said the government has consented to refer the issue to a privilege committee. “I can present the agreement which was inked between the PPP government and the US due to which Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed were off-loaded,” he retorted, referring to an incident when the PTI chief was off-loaded from a US-bound flight to Toronto and questioned by theUS authorities.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2014.