"I swear to the tears of Mian Nawaz Sharif that he shed in Attock Fort [when he was put behind the bars in 1999 following Musharraf's military coup], I swear to the sacrifices of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali and Shaheed Banazir Bhutto and a handcuffed Khawaja Asif, and beg you to withdraw this bill," remarked leader of the opposition Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah while speaking against the Income Tax Amendment Bill, 2016 in the National Assembly.
However, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab said Nawaz Sharif had never shed tears while in Attock jail. "He is a real brave leader of the country and the leader of the opposition should take his remarks back," Aftab demanded. But Shah explained that he was not sarcastic in his remarks and his comments about Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were an "acknowledgement" of his services for the restoration of democracy.
"I myself some time shed tears for the present situation of the country and whenever democracy is in danger...Mian Sahib had even went into exile," Shah added. However, the government passed the bill in the absence of opposition parties who had staged a walkout from the house in protest.
Later, talking to reporters, opposition members including PPP's Syed Naveed Qamar, PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Omar, MQM's Rehan Hashmi and Jamaat-e-Islami's Sahibzada Tariqullah, rejected the bill accusing the government of bulldozing the parliamentary practices. They also warned the government that the combined opposition will come up with a joint strategy to challenge the bill in court if the government continued with its practice to overlook opposition members' input in lawmaking processes.
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