LAHORE - Punjab Minister for School Education Dr Murad Raas had a smooth sailing in the House yesterday, thanks to the absence of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
It was after a long time that a provincial minister did not have to undergo the usual grilling at the hands of Speaker during the question hour.
Ever since his relationship turned sour with the PTI leadership, Speaker Ch Parvez Elahi had made it a point to give tough time to the ministers who usually don’t come prepared in the House to answer the questions.
In such a situation, it becomes really hard for the Ministers to hoodwink a Speaker who is serving his second term as the Speaker and who has also worked as the former chief minister. One of the members on the Panel of Chairmen, Mian Muhammad Shafi chaired the Friday sitting as the Speaker Ch Parvez Elahi and Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari were out of the city to attend a wedding ceremony.
None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings. Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were also conspicuous by their absence.
In the absence of Ch Parvez Elahi, Dr Murad Raas took it as an opportunity to subdue the Opposition.
At one point during the question hour, the minister went hammers and tongue at the PML-N MPA Gulnaz Shahzadi who had agitated the issue of lack of school campuses in Sialkot district. “The new campuses can be opened only if the PML-N leaders return the looted wealth of this nation”, the Minister replied.
A PTI legislator, Syed Yawar Bukhari lost his cool when Shahzadi in turn sought audit of the Zakat money collected for the Shaukat Khanum Hospital.
The entire Opposition rose in anger when Yawar yelled at the lady, stating, “shut up”.
The House witnessed a rowdy scene for few minutes. Opposition members resorted to sloganeering as they tore apart copies of the agenda. They also left the House as token of protest but returned after a while on the assurance that Yawar Bukhari will apologise to the lady. Yawar did as promised and the House was in order again. Industries Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal did the mediation from Treasury’s side.
In yet another glaring act in Speaker’s absence, the Education Minister chose not to respond to an important adjournment motion moved by Sheikh Alauddin of the PML-N. Alauddin had invited government’s attention towards illegal occupation of 24 acres of school land in Okara district by owners of Okara Textile Mill.
Consequently, the Chair had to defer the motion for some other day.
When Samiullah Khan of the PML-N reminded Chairman Muhammad Shafi that a motion could not be deferred without getting response from the Minister concerned, Dr Murad Raas did not like it.
“Today, the Opposition members are trying to become a hero. When we were in the Opposition, their Speaker would defer our motions as no Minister would respond to them”, he said angrily. In the meanwhile, Mian Shafi adjourned the House till Monday afternoon without holding a scheduled discussion on annual performance reports of the development authorities in major cities of the province.