ISLAMABAD - As expected, the National Assembly yesterday witnessed rumpus created by the Opposition members from start till the end.
The Opposition with onset of the proceedings resorted to anti-government sloganeering when the chair was about to start a panel of chairpersons for the entire session in case of his absence. The House echoed with the slogans ‘Go Niazi , Go Niazi- Muk gia tera show Niazi ’ throughout the proceedings.
Ignoring the Question-Hour session, the Opposition members gathered near the Speaker’s podium to raise the slogans.
Some young members from Treasury benches rushed to encircle around the chair of Prime Minister. Prime Minister Imran Khan was seen calm to witness the proceedings of the House.
The chair, sensing the emotions of the members from both sides, preferred to suspend the proceedings for 20 minutes.
The scheme to calm down the Opposition could not work as the Opposition started creating hullabaloo with the resumption of the House. The Opposition also made a failed attempt to suspend the House by pointing out lack of quorum in the House. The Opposition members, during the counting of MNAs, left the house in protest.
Whereas, the required strength (86 MNAs) were present in the house. Speaker National Assembly gave the floor to PPP-P’s senior member Naveed Qamar to express their views.
PPP-P’s MNA Naveed Qamar, on the behalf of the Opposition, blamed the government for tarnishing the image of Parliament.
He strongly criticized the government for calling the session of the National Assembly when the Opposition had already announced date of their public meeting [Pakistan Democratic Movement in Gujranwala]. “Is it a way to run the house? It is a biased approach,” he said and asked the Opposition members to leave the House in protest. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan , speaking on point of order, defended the chair for running the house in a balanced way according to the rules. “You [Speaker National Assembly] run the house in a good manner. Have given proper time to Opposition to express their point of view on all the matters including FATF related bills,” he said.
The House also offered Fateha for the 13 security personnel and seven private guards, who were martyred in separate terrorist attacks in Balochistan's Gwadar district and the North Waziristan tribal district a day earlier.
Earlier, the government side in heavy sloganeering managed to introduce ‘Election Act, 2017’ bill, 2020’ in the House.