ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly on Tuesday witnessed the worst kind of scuffle between the lawmakers from ruling- PTI and PML-N, as the House turned into the battleground that left MNAs including a female injured.

From whistling, hooting, sloganeering to exchange of harsh and abusive words, the MNAs from PTI and PML-N Tuesday created a new ‘parliamentary history’ by throwing heavy budget documents and objects at each other. The legislators from both the main parties exchanging harsh words during the speech of Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif resorted to fist-fight, ignoring the repeated warnings of the chair.

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, sensing the ugly situation, even abruptly adjourned the proceedings to control any untoward incident but it was too late. The situation turned worse when the government and Opposition lawmakers came face-to-face, even after the suspension of the House proceedings. 

The protected shield created by sergeant-at-arms, over the instructions of the chair, also proved useless as the heavy budget documents (Pink Books) hit lawmakers, leaving some of them with minor injuries. 

Heavy budget books [used as the main weapon] were seen flying across the National Assembly Hall as lawmakers from both sides were not shy to hit each other even after the suspension of the House. 

Female MNAs from treasury benches Zartaj Gul , Malika Bokhari and some others also could not save themselves during the worst fight. They were seen rushing to the dispensary located in the parliament house for the medical treatment. 

The ruling party MNAs including Saif Ur Rahman, Amjad Niazi , Faheem Khan , Ali Nawaz Awan and some others were seen mainly taking part in the brawl. From PML-N Khalid Javed, Ali Gohar Baloch and others were seen throwing books towards treasury benches. 

A large number of senior and junior MNAs from both sides were hit with these budgetary documents, placed near their seats for studying. 

With the outset of the proceedings, the match of the sloganeering was started between the MNAs from these two main parties. Some of them in the first half of the session also engaged in physical brawl but the situation was controlled with the interruption of senior members. The worst pandemonium was seen after the prayers break. 

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, facing interruption in his speech, strongly criticised the federal budget. He said PM Imran Khan’s claims of eliminating corruption from Pakistan were hollow. 

“Where are ten millions jobs, houses for poor, medical facilities etc,” he asked, adding that Pakistan has been suffering from the worst form of corruption in the current era. He said the government had failed to provide relief to the masses amid spiralling unemployment and inflation. 

He said that Pakistan in the previous government era had set up power plants across the country and ended the menace of load-shedding. He said the country was heading towards economic prosperity in the regime of the PML-N government. “Now, everything is on the decline, even the per capita income,” he said and urged the Prime Minister Imran Khan to take the lower house of parliament into confidence over the government’s ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said the government had been telling lies for the last three years about its economic statistics and termed the budget a “lie and fraud” with the nation. Meanwhile, speaker national assembly Asad Qaiser has taken notice over an unpleasant incident in the house. He might ban some MNAs for using abusive language and misbehaving in the house.