LAHORE - The Punjab Assembly session on Wednesday witnessed the worst example of rumpus, as the Opposition turned the House into a war zone after not getting permission to table a resolution to condemn India for accusing Pakistan of terror activities.
The war-like confrontation between the Opposition and Treasury was not over yet inside the House when female treasury member Salma Butt slapped opposition member Mian Asif at the assembly stairs for protesting. As per details, Salma Butt came along with another ruling party member Farzana Butt and slapped opposition member Main Asif, while Farzana gave a forceful push to Opposition Leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed.
The last sitting of the Punjab Assembly session on the completion of its first parliamentary year started with Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal in the chair.
On a point of order, the opposition leader uttered a few words about the Indian government’s allegations against Pakistan in connection with involvement in terrorism during PM Nawaz Sharif’s visit to New Delhi, while the treasury started chanting slogans against the opposition.
The opposition benches chanted slogans, ‘Kashmir will become part of Pakistan’ and ‘Friend of Modi is a traitor to the country’.
In this jumpy situation, the opposition leader asked the chair to allow him for tabling a resolution to condemn the Indian allegations, while the treasury didn’t let the opposition get permission and continued chanting slogans.
The opposition members surrounded the speaker’s dais and chanted slogans in protest for not getting permission to table the resolution and raised slogans ‘Kashmir will become part of Pakistan’ and ‘Friend of Modi is a traitor to the country’.
During the protest, the House adopted a resolution tabled by minority member Ramesh Singh Arora out-of-turn to celebrate Baba Guru Nanak’s birthday at official level and declare public holiday on the day. The House also passed another out-of-turn resolution tabled by provincial minister Malik Nadeem Kamran to appreciate the efforts of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to make Pakistan an atomic power.
The House could not take up general discussion on education, as the speaker asked the opposition for starting debate on the call of Parliamentary Secretary for Education Mehweesh Sultana but the opposition continued chanting slogans.
Speaker replying to the situation postponed the debate and prorogued the session.
Earlier, an interesting situation was witnessed during the question hour session on cooperatives department when in charge minister, Iqbal Channar couldn’t respond a single query and even the Speaker became embarrassed over Channar’s poor conduct.
On this, opposition member Amir Sultan Cheema, annoyed over the minister’s inaccurate answers said, “May Almighty Allah creates an opportunity for the dissolution of this assembly.”
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Punjab Assembly submitted the resolution to condemn the Indian allegations in the Assembly Secretariat. The resolution condemned the newly-elected Indian prime minister for accusing Pakistan of terrorism. The resolution demanded the new Indian government should stop sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan and withdraw its illegal control over Pakistani and Kashmiri waters.