Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Monday questioned integrity and impartiality of Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for sending references against Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen to Election Commission of Pakistan for their disqualification from the house. PTI members also staged a walkout from the Lower House against decision of the Speaker, saying they would devise their future strategy about their participation in the house with consultation of other parliamentary parties.
Speaking on a point of order in the Lower House PTI MNA Shafqat Mahmood said the Speaker has played a partisan role by rejecting references filed against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but sending only references filed against Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen. Mahmood said that revelation in Panama Papers had raised a number of questions on qualification of the Prime Minister for not submitting proper asset details with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
"The Prime Minister has shown his daughter Maryam as his dependent in the documents submitted with the ECP, but has failed to declare her offshore properties," he said. He also accused the Speaker of partisan for rejecting references against the Prime Minister and accepting the reference filed against PTI chairman Imran Khan. "We had a lot of expectations from you, but you have not been neutral ... we strongly express displeasure over your partisan behaviour," he said.
Speaking on the issue, MNA Jamshed Dasti also accused the Speaker of not being impartial in the case of the references and supported the PTI stance. "I have numerous differences with the PTI, but your (Speaker) decision is not impartial," he said. Dasti said that Pakistan Peoples Party has become B-team of the government and would not speak on corruption of the government to save them. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the PTI labelled the National Assembly as a rigged institution; they tendered their resignations, but are part of it too.
The Speaker should have asked the PTI members when they came in the house whether they had tendered their resignations or not, he said. The minister also questioned the investment of Shaukat Khanum's donation money in Muscat, saying they would soon expose Imran Khan that what he was before construction of the hospital and what is he now. Responding to all the allegations, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that his office neither holds judicial power nor is an investigation agency, but decided the matter only on basis of the papers attached with the references. He said that he received eight references in total; four about the prime minister, two against Imran Khan, one against Jahangir Tareen and one against Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
Under the constitution, the ECP is bound to decide on the references within 90 days, he said, adding that its decision would show if my ruling was partisan or not. Earlier, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah urged the Speaker to give point of order to the members, but the Speaker said that he would give them but only when he feels it appropriate. Later, the opposition parties except MQM and FATA members staged a token walkout from the house after Speaker did not allow the PTI members to speak on a point of order. The house also approved "The National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016," and "The Plant Breeders' Rights Bill 2016" in absence of the opposition parties.
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