Resolving Parliament House’s issues: Opposition, treasury benches unanimously adopt motion to form 16-member body

ISLAMABAD: In wake of arrests of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs from inside the Parliament House by plainclothesmen in the dark of the night, the opposition and treasury on Wednesday unanimously adopted a motion to form a 16-member committee – comprising treasury and opposition parties – for resolving issues related to the house.

The motion moved by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Atta Tarar, called for constitution of a parliamentary committee comprising members of the National Assembly (MNAs) from both treasury and opposition benches to discuss, analyse and propose recommendations regarding issues related to parliament and its smooth functioning.

A committee shall be constituted today so that the work commences from the same day, the NA Speaker remarked while inviting PTI chairman Barrister Gohar to meet him after the assembly’s session is adjourned.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif termed the arrival of masked persons and the entry of the police into the Parliament House shameful and “a violation of the sanctity of the House.”

About issuance of production orders against the arrest of PTI lawmakers, he said he had no objection if the speaker issues the order of the arrested MNAs.

Asif, while condemning the “lines crossed” by the PTI during its Sunday rally, added the arrival of the police is a loss of parliament as an institution.

Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai told Speaker Ayaz that he stood with him about the need for ensuring the Parliament’s supremacy and keeping the institutions within their constitutional ambits.

“We are with you in upholding the supremacy of the constitution, strengthening parliament and keeping every institution within the purview of the Constitution,” he added.

Achakzai said the developments that unfolded during PTI’s political event did not mandate an attack on the Parliament House.

“It is unacceptable to use Ali Amin Gandapur’s words as an excuse to attack parliament,” he said, adding the attack was unjustified and highly condemnable.

Meanwhile, PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan announced a boycott of the ongoing National Assembly proceedings by “all PTI MNAs except nine to ten” as the recent events continued to come under discussion in today’s assembly session.

Speaking on the floor of the house, he said that “until an inquiry is conducted into September 10 events and we are satisfied, PTI MNAs, except for nine to 10, will not participate in this parliament’s proceedings. We will not attend your committee meetings.”

“This is our protest and we will register our strong protest against whatever was done to us,” he added.

He also condemned the filing of terrorism charges over a delayed political rally, saying “which country in the world files terrorism charges for a rally running an hour late.”

At the same time, he said he was grateful to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as he had also condemned the illegal arrests of PTI MNAs.

He also said that “under no circumstance would the PTI resign from the parliament or any assembly, nor have we announced as such.”

About suspension of security staff, he called upon the NA deputy speaker who was presiding over the session, not to conduct an inquiry that led to the suspension of “some innocent ordinary people but to go to the depth of it”.

Gohar warned the treasury benches that if PTI’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government wanted, it could also file cases against ministers of the ruling coalition.

However, he said he chose not to engage in tit-for-tat actions.

Recalling the suspension of PTI’s Punjab MPAs for 15 sessions, Gohar said he faced pressure as the party’s chairman but when a KP lawmaker from the ruling parties misbehaved; he chose not to have them suspended in return.

“We want the political forces to be strengthened so that apolitical forces won’t get a chance,” the PTI chairman said. In his address, PPP Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari also struck a reconciliatory tone as he called for politics of revenge to be shunned.

“If the government’s only job is to decide who should we jail today as ‘Khan did this to us and ruined the air’ so […] you will be happy for one day but tomorrow, you and I will be in that same jail,” he added.

“When Imran Khan was the prime minister, I had no personal difference with him,” the PPP chairman stated.

“The manner in which we have been doing politics for quite some time, we have turned it into an outright abuse,” he lamented.

Bilawal also criticised the opposition for hurling abuses and hitting below the belt instead of giving constructive feedback to the federal government on its economic and security policies.

“If this country has to move forward, both sides must work together. It does not matter that your “prime minister” is jailed. You can fight for his case in jail. Here, serve the masses,” he added.

He further said that since the PPP signed the Charter of Democracy in 2007, “conspiracies started to give space to undemocratic forces and to undermine that charter”.

He went on to claim that one of those was ex-chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the other was intelligence agencies’ officers supporting a certain political party which has brought our political system to this point.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar also called for unity among all political parties to strengthen democracy and the constitution, warning that ongoing political conflicts could undermine the respect of the parliament.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024