ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly has claimed that the silence of the Leader of the House on the events in the National Assembly shows that these events could have not taken place without his consent.

This was said in a letter signed by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other parliamentary party leaders of the opposition to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.

The letter said that the action against the seven MNAs announced in the media does not come close to recognizing the gravity of the events and in violations of the rules and not acceptable. Unless the speaker decides the perpetrators of these events first, the opposition cannot have any confidence of impartiality or the ability of the speaker to run the House according to parliamentary norms and traditions.

The letter also says that now the decision which is taken on the issue by the speaker National Assembly will either restore the dignity of the Parliament and the speaker or destroy them forever. The letter recounts all the events which took place on 15 June during the speech of the Leader of Opposition, while opening the debate on the budget. The letter says that the speaker turned a blind eye to the events and aggression displayed by the MNAs of the treasury benches.

“It is the first incident probably in the Parliamentary history in the world that the treasury benches defied the Speaker and physically attacked the opposition. The Speaker remained silent on this violence and turned a blind eye to the abuse of the opposition, the letter said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021