The opposition lawmakers on Friday staged a walkout from Senate against non-issuance of production orders of arrested Members National Assembly (MNAs) and filing reference against Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa. During the session of the upper house of the Parliament presided over by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, the joint opposition led by Leader of the Opposition in Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq walked out of the House against the non-issuance of production orders of Asif Ali Zardari, Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and filing of reference against Justice Faez Isa despite Senate's resolution against it.
However, the walkout ended when the government representatives managed to convince the opposition to raise their voice on the floor of the House. "Elected representatives are being arrested and no one knows why. The government is silent on the matter. Adding insult to injury, an organised propaganda campaign is being run against opposition leaders with the patronage of the government," said Raja Zafar-ul-Haq.
He said that the Senate had condemned the reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa but still the proceedings of the reference have been initiated in disregard of the wishes of the upper house of the Parliament. Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz attempted to detach his party's federal government with the recent arrests of politicians. "NAB (National Accountability Bureau) is not in the control of federal government. It is a completely independent and autonomous accountability body. Blaming the government for the actions of NAB is not justified," he added.
Pakistan People's Party's (PPP's) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman termed Asif Zardari's arrest by NAB as victimisation of the politicians. She also slammed the federal government for presenting "anti-poor, hostile and ruthless budget for a common man," demanding of the treasury benches to review the excessive taxes imposed in the draft Finance Bill 2019.
"This budget has come from IMF (International Monetary Fund). This is probably the most ruthless budget I have ever seen-prepared in utter disregard to the miseries of a common man," said
"The government needs to grow up and show some sensibility- salaried class is so heavily taxed in this budget. The ruling lot has to realise why should a common man suffer because of their follies? They should immediately reverse the highhanded, anti-poor and hostile measures taken against the general public in the (draft) Finance Bill 2019," she demanded.
When opposition Senator Sitara Ayaz from Awami National Party (ANP) took the floor of the House, she had exchange of arguments with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak.
The ANP senator criticised the government for presenting "anti-poor budget" and praised her party ANP as 'clean and corruption-free party."
This prompted Khattak to interrupt Sitara Ayaz. In a sarcastic tone he said, "Yes, she is absolutely right. ANP is a clean party. It has done no corruption. Who says ANP is an 'easy load' party?"('Easy load' is a slang used for ANP for its alleged involvement in massive corruption during its tenure in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2008-2013.)
This infuriated Sitara Ayaz who responded, "ANP might be an easy load party but it delivered in KP unlike PTI that has played havoc in KP and the rest of Pakistan."
The ANP senator alleged that Prime Minister's House's budget was increased by 25 per cent whereas sugar's price was increased by 17 percent in the draft Finance Bill 2019.
Khattak admitted that draft Finance Bill 2019 proposes very high electricity tariff for privileged consumers. "We have kept electricity rates at Rs 4 per unit for the poor and Rs 22 per unit for the privileged who live in posh localities. So, if your electricity bill was Rs 20,000 previously, it would not be less than Rs 100,000 in future. But if you were getting electricity bill of Rs 5,000 or less, it would remain the same," he said.
Lieutenant General (R) Abdul Qayyum of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan's announcement to form a Commission of Inquiry to probe increase in Pakistan's loans from Rs 6,000 billion to Rs 30,000 billion in the last 10 years.
"We welcome this move. We would now explain how much loans we took when we were in power and where we spent them. If this government needs our economic team, we are ready to help," he added. The session was adjourned till Monday at 4:30pm.
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