NA session: PPP, JI stage walkout over Nisar’s conduct

Leader of the Opposition condemned the brutal police action against the OGDCL employees

ISLAMABAD:

Two key opposition parties boycotted Thursday’s proceedings in the National Assembly in protest over the abrupt departure of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from the lower house.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), in particular, was incensed when the minister strode out of the session in the middle of Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah’s speech.

Earlier, both the PPP and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) staged a walkout to record their protest against the baton charge and tear gas shelling carried out by the Islamabad police on the employees of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) — who were demonstrating against the government’s plan to privatise the organisation.

“This attitude by inefficient ministers has landed the government and democracy in a difficult situation. More difficulties will be created if these ministers do not change themselves,” said the opposition leader before leaving the House.

In his speech, Shah condemned the brutal action against the OGDCL employees and called upon the government to take action against the police and district administration officials responsible for the incident.

“Why has the government opted to privatise a profitable organisation which gives billions of profit annually?” he maintained.  He promised that his party would resist OGDCL’s privatisation, warning that government should avoid shattering the unity with the opposition parties.

Shah said he could not help but compare the fate of OGDCL workers with that of “some people” who had ransacked parliament and other state buildings. While those vandals were honourably evacuated, he said, these poor OGDCL workers who were demanding their rights were dealt with violence and aggression.

He announced PPP’s support for the workers in case they are harassed or tortured, and stressed that his party will not allow the privatisation of OGDCL. Shah then walked out of the house in protest. He was followed by his colleagues from JI.

Members of the two parties returned to the house but only after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers requested them to end the protest. During their absence, Chaudhry Nisar said that he did not know why the police resorted to the baton charge, but it seems that the police and administration had exceeded their limits.

The interior minister promised to conduct an inquiry into the incident and present a report before the House. However, he also said that there should also be some limits on exercising the right to protest so that one does not create trouble for others while exercising that right.

When he ended the speech, PPP members returned to the House and Shah soon started to speak again. “I am surprised at how the interior minister says he was not aware of the incident,” said Shah.

But when Shah saw the interior minister leaving the House during his speech, it infuriated him. “The minister is not ready to listen to us. My party members boycott the proceedings against this attitude of Chaudhry Nisar,” he said.

Moments later, Chaudhry Nisar returned to assure the house that the rights of workers will be protected following the privatisation of any national institution.

He also clarified that, “After my speech I left the house because of a compulsion but the opposition made it an issue — for which I don’t have a cure.”


Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.