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‘Tuesday was blackest chapter in the parliament’s history,’ says Shehbaz; Budget session again marred by furor

Islamabad: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has said whatever happened in the lower house on Tuesday was the darkest chapter in the history of Pakistan’s politics.

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‘Tuesday was blackest chapter in the parliament’s history,’ says Shehbaz; Budget session again marred by furor
‘Tuesday was blackest chapter in the parliament’s history,’ says Shehbaz; Budget session again marred by furor

Resuming his budget speech amid security cordon, he said the budget session was marred by abuses and hooliganism on Tuesday. “It was your duty to ensure the sanctity of the lower house,” Sharif asked the Speaker.

The PML-N leader, whose speech was again disrupted by rival members, said the treasury benches created mess of 'unparliamentary and inappropriate behavior' on the ‘behest of Prime Minster Imran Khan’.

Shehbaz Sharif went on to say that the Speaker has failed to fulfil his constitutional, legal, democratic, and parliamentary responsibilities and is not qualified to hold office anymore.

The leaders demanded that a parliamentary committee be established with equal representation — from treasury and Opposition benches — to probe the ruckus that had transpired in parliament.   

During the speech, a santizer bottle was hurled on the treasury members that hit the face of MNA Akram Cheema.

Speaker Asad Qaiser reacted to the unparliamentary act with a direction to kick out those who will hurl any object in the house.

Soon after the incident, the speaker adjourned the budget session proceedings again with an observation the session will not be resumed till both sides reconciled with each other.

Tuesday's tale of happenings            

Islamabad: The National Assembly session turned into fish market and then battlefield during the speech of Opposition Leader in the Lower House Mian Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday.

Sharif’s speech was disrupted by loud jeers, slogans and whistles from the members from the treasury benches.

As PTI legislators encircled the former Punjab chief minister, PML-N lawmakers and other opposition members formed a protective circle around him. The treasury benches kept raising their slogans whenever Sharif lambasted the government’s economic policies. 

"Imran Khan Niazi promised 10 million jobs. Where are those jobs?" asked Sharif. "Where are the $300bn that were supposed to be brought back to the country from abroad?"

Continuing to lash out at the government, he said that PM Imran Khan's claims of eliminating corruption from Pakistan were hollow. 

"Pakistan is suffering from the worst form of corruption today," he said. "No act of posting or transferring someone these days is done without an element of corruption these days," added Shehbaz. 

He criticised the government's budget, saying that it had failed to provide relief to the masses amid spiralling unemployment and inflation. 

Speaker Asad Qaiser kept interjecting, requesting lawmakers on the treasury benches to refrain from shouting while the leader of the Opposition spoke. 

However, no one listened and the Opposition leader continued, wearing headphones to drown out the noise. 

 

"They accuse us of generating 'useless power'. If that is the case, why are people suffering from loadshedding these days?" asked Shahbaz.

Shehbaz said that during the government of his brother, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan had set up power plants across the country and ended the menace of loadshedding. 

He said the country was heading towards economic prosperity then, whereas now, everything was on the decline, even the per capita income. 

As Shehbaz spoke, tempers rose when the government and Opposition lawmakers came face-to-face. 

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Ali Nawaz Awan could be seen in a video clip, responding in kind to abusive language by a PML-N lawmaker.

A woman lawmaker attempted to pull the PTI MNA away from the group of legislators who were shoving each other. He could be seen in the video, throwing a booklet at the PML-N leader and shouting angrily at him.

As the confrontation grew the members from both sides started throwing budget books to each other. Someone threw book on Shehbaz Sharif that hot the dice not the opposition leader.

A couple of security staff also sustained injuries during exchange of hurling books. PTI MNA Malika Bokhari also got wounded when a book hit her face.

 

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