ISLAMABAD: The lower house of parliament witnessed chaos and exchange of verbal insults on Thursday after Tariq Bashir Cheema, a member of the ruling coalition, used “foul” language against Zartaj Gul Wazir, a female lawmaker of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
During his speech in the house, Cheema repeatedly claimed the then director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Gen Faiz Hameed used to play a role in completing quorums in the house during budget sessions.
This prompted Zartaj Gul to remind him of his son’s alleged involvement in Islamia University Bahawalpur’s narcotics and video scandal, an allegation which Cheema had already denied.
However, Cheema rushed to the seat of Zartaj Gul, which led to a tense exchange allegedly involving verbal insults and foul language.
With this, the female lawmaker started shouting and claimed that Cheema had said something foul and abusive to her which she could not even repeat in the house.
This left the male PTI lawmakers prominently, Shahid Khattak, Atif Khan, Iqbal Afridi and others with no option but to react as they chased him to the MNAs gallery, adjacent to the house but by then Cheema had disappeared.
The opposition members vocally demanded, “Bring him (Cheema) back, we will not let him go… how he dare insult our female colleague.”
As the situation became tense, the speaker immediately adjourned the house till Friday at 11am.
Later, in the evening after hours long meeting at the NA Speaker’s chamber, Cheema tendered an unconditional apology to Zartaj Gul, saying he should not have used such language against a fellow parliamentarian which the latter accepted.
The NA Speaker also suspended Cheema’s membership for Friday’s session.
Iqbal Afridi told the speaker that Cheema used abusive language against Gul, adding that “we will not spare him under any circumstances”.
“This man (Cheema) has insulted a woman… we demand that his membership be terminated immediately,” he added.
Discussions were then held on this matter with PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar, other PTI leaders and the Speaker, which included PTI MNAs Asad Qaiser, the opposition leader in the NA Omar Ayub and Mehmood Khan Achakzai.
Zartaj Gul stood up and said that she would not leave the chamber until the membership of Tariq Bashir Cheema was terminated.
On this, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq assured Zartaj Gul of taking strict action against Cheema.
The opposition demanded that Tariq Bashir Cheema should be suspended for the entire budget session, demanding that Tariq Bashir Cheema should apologise on the floor.
On this, the Speaker assured that Tariq Cheema would apologise, but he would not be suspended for the budget session. Show flexibility on demand, he asked opposition members.
The opposition leader in NA said that a motion to suspend the membership of Tariq Bashir Cheema will be presented in the National Assembly through which Tariq Bashir Cheema will be prevented from participating in the ongoing session.
Later on, a meeting of government and opposition leaders was held in the speaker’s chamber in which Tariq Bashir Cheema was called.
The speaker persuaded Tariq Bashir to apologise to Zartaj Gul and asked him to be a bigger person. Cheema then agreed to apologise and said, “I am sorry for my words and I apologise to Zartaj Gul”.
On this, Zartaj Gul accepted his apology.
According to the spokesperson of the National Assembly, the matter has been settled amicably with the efforts of the NA Speaker.
Syed Aminul Haq of MQM-P lamented the chaos in the NA, emphasising the importance of mutual respect among politicians to resolve conflicts amicably.
Noor Alam Khan of JUI-F expressed dismay over the chaotic scenes in the assembly, emphasizing the need for restraint and control over temperament among legislators, especially considering that parliamentary proceedings were being broadcast live.
Meanwhile, Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told the house that the process of constituting standing committees will be completed by today (Friday).
He said that there was a slight delay in the process due to the apex court’s decision which suspended membership of MPs elected on seats reserved for women.
The PML-N leader further said that seating arrangements had been finalised, adjustments made, and documents signed by parliamentary leaders had been submitted to the Speaker’s office.
He assured that the seating arrangements would be completed before the next session of parliament.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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