LAHORE - Rejecting JIT report, the Opposition demanded constitution of a Judicial Commission for probing Sahiwal incident at the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday.

The House witnessed chaos as the Opposition legislators tore apart copies of agenda and besieged the Speaker podium while chanting slogans against the government.

After taking charge from the Deputy Speaker, Speaker Ch Parvez Elahi managed to calm the Opposition to pave way for passage of three bills-the Punjab Domestic Workers Bill 2018, the Namal Institute Mianwali Bill 2019 and the Punjab Occupational Safety and Health Bill 2019. Fourth bill on the agenda, the Punjab Prevention of Conflicat of Interest Bill 2018 was however pended on the demand of the Opposition.

The session started one hour and 20 minutes behind the schedule with Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari in the chair.

Before the start of proceedings on question hour, the opposition legislator pointed quorum. As the quorum remained incomplete even after ringing bells for five minutes, the chair adjourned the session for 15 minutes. Incomplete quorum led to another 15 minutes break. Treasury managed to bring the House in quorum after the third break.

Before the start of proceedings on the government business, PML-N’s Rana Muhammad Iqbal stood up on a point of order and drew attention of the chair towards Sahiwal killing, saying government could not shun away its responsibility. Rejecting JIT report, he demanded judicial commission to probe the incident. He also demanded debate in the House on the initial inquiry report of the incident.

He said that CTD police officials shot down four people including a woman and a girl in cold blood before the eyes of other three minor children. Deputy Speaker rejected the opposition demand that led to rumpus. The Opposition legislators besieged the Speaker’s podium, tore apart the copies of agenda and raised slogans against the PTI leadership. The rumpus continued despite several efforts by the Deputy Speaker. Later, he left the chair for Speaker Ch Parvez Elahi who finally succeeded in pacifying the opposition.

On demand of the opposition legislator Dr Mazhar, the chair barred law minister Raja Basharat from briefing media about the initial inquiry report on the cold blood killings of a family by CTD officials in Sahiwal. The law minster said that the report could not be shared at this stage. He assured giving in camera briefing to the legislators on Thursday (today) before initiating general discussion on law and order.

After the opposition calmed down, the House passed three bills through majority vote which included Punjab Domestic Workers Bill, Namal Institute Mianwali Bill, and Punjab Occupational Safety and Health Bill.

The fourth bill on the agenda, the Punjab Prevention of Conflict of Interests Bill, was left pending on the request of opposition members who wanted the government to include their amendments in the draft Bill.

Earlier during Question Hour on Local Government and Community Development department, Senior minister Aleem Khan admitted presence of Hepatitis virus in drinking water resources all over the province. To a supplementary question, he accepted alarming situation, saying government had planned to establish another authority to ensure providing clean drinking water to the citizens during the current year.

 He assured the House that providing clean and safe drinking water to the citizens was the top priority of the PTI regime.

To another supplementary question, the minister told the House that government had planned to begin generating power from solid waste in seven big cities in the province, adding that these projects would be completed during the year 2019. He said the project would also help in reducing the environmental pollution.