A joint sitting of the parliament convened to discuss the Yemen situation Monday turned out to be a common front against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) when lawmakers of ruling PML-N, JUI-F and the opposition MQM, ANP gave a hostile response to PTI legislators' return to parliament after a very long absence.
The protesting members created rumpus in the House with loud sloganeering against PTI in the presence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who remained silent during the whole episode. The Prime Minister was also seen sending a chit to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif who was speaking on floor of the House and lambasting the PTI for calling the parliament as "fake".
"There must be some decency. There should be some moral grounds...They are abusing the same parliament which they have just rejoined after a long absence," Khawaja Asif said while referring to Imran Khan's media talks in which he again termed the parliament "fake" and a "product of rigging".
Despite repeated interventions by Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Saddiq to remain calm, Khawaja Asif continued, saying that the Speaker should ask the PTI members to stand up and enquire from each one of them about their resignations. "They should be asked if they have resigned," he further said, as the PML-N members chanted loud slogans "shame, shame".
The members of MQM who described the PTI lawmakers as "strangers in the House" also staged a token walkout from the House followed by the JUI-F lawmakers to protest against PTI's rejoining the parliament.
Some members of the treasuries and apposition benches rushed to mediate between the lawmakers of the MQM and some PTI members when they were about to scuffle inside the house. To this, some MQM members staged walkout.
However, PTI chief Imran Khan and other senior leadership remained calm, but Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his speech on a Yemen situation gave an indication that the party would exact its revenge on some other occasion as his party does not want to divert attention of the house from the serious issue of Yemen.
"It was a serious breach of the constitution by allowing some 'strangers' to participate in the joint sitting of the parliament," said MQM's Dr Farooq Sattar, while speaking on floor of the House before leaving the floor in protest. Sattar also termed the sitting of the parliament 'unconstitutional' in presence of 'strangers'.
"If the Speaker allows some strangers to become part of the proceedings, then he should also allow those sitting in the galleries to sit inside the house," he added.
The speaker, while giving his observations, said that "if they [PTI members] are sitting inside the House, they are the members of the House". He further said he did not accept the resignations of PTI members, as the resigned members had not constitutionally confirmed their resignations.
He also referred to a judgement of the apex court under which every member should personally be enquired about his/her resignations, adding he invited the PTI members but they did not appear personally to meet a constitutional obligation.
"Some members wanted to create a rift between Speaker's office and the PTI but I did what the constitution and rules states," the Speaker added.
Leader of the opposition Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah, while intervening in the debate, said it was the victory of the democracy when the PTI rejoined the parliament, adding that the ruling PML-N members should protest against their own government which itself had invited the PTI members to rejoin parliament.
Leader of the opposition in Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said that the government had resolved the issue in a better way and brought PTI back to parliament. "I just wanted to ask whether we can afford another mini-general election in case of PTI's resignations," he asked, adding it might be an issue of NA-246 bye-election in Karachi for some.
Earlier, talking to reporters outside the parliament, MQM's Dr Farooq Sattar along with party members maintained that Article the 64 of the Constitution has been violated by allowing the PTI members to sit in the House.
"The Speaker has actually violated the Article 64, clause 1 and clause 2, of the Constitution, which is also the negation of democratic norms," Sattar said, adding that his party would keep on protesting against the move. He said the PTI lawmakers returned to the House after a long time, as they resigned seven months ago, adding clause 1 of Article 64 of the Constitution stipuates that any lawmaker who submits his resignation is considered to have resigned immediately, if the resignation is not taken back.
"It is not the Speaker's privilege to allow them back into the House, but the constitution and the rules to be followed," Sattar maintained, while referring to the Speaker's ruling in which he stated "anybody who is sitting in the House, is member of the House".
However, the MQM leader stated that the Constitution says, "if any member is absent from the House for more than 40 days, he deems not to be member of parliament anymore. He said that the "Speaker should clarify the situation, as it tantamount to making a 'joke' of the democracy and the Constitution."
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