ISLAMABAD: The upper house of the Parliament landed into frenzy on Thursday following the opposition’s uproar over yet another increase of Rs24 per litre in the fuel prices, taking the total increase in the petroleum products’ prices to an unprecedented Rs84 in less than three weeks.
Right from the onset, the Senate sitting was marked with pandemonium after the opposition legislators strongly protested against the fuel tariff hike.
Led by Opposition Leader Dr Shahzad Waseem, the charged senators chanted anti-government slogans and encircled the desk of Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.
The chair repeatedly kept asking the senators to settle down in their seats but in vain. The protesting members then staged a walkout from the house.
Sanjrani asked Behramand Tangi from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Danesh Kumar from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) to bring the protesting senators back in the house. On the request of the two treasury senators, the opposition members returned to the house.
Speaking on the floor of the house, the opposition leader demanded that Finance Minister Miftah Ismail be summoned to Senate over the unprecedented inflation in the country.
“We condemn yet another sudden increase in petroleum prices. Where does this finance minister keep hiding at day time?” Waseem asked.
He said the debate on the Finance Bill, 2022 cannot take place in the absence of the most relevant person—the finance minister. “Where is the finance minister? In which hole is he hiding? Chairman Senate, you better summon him, the sooner the better,” a visibly perturbed opposition leader remarked, addressing Sanjrani.
PTI’s Shibli Faraz minced no words to lambast the finance minister for making, what he dubbed was a “Candyland” budget — a reference to a brand of sweets/candies, widely popular among children, owned by Ismail.
“This is what the finance minister calls federal budget—it is not a budget in the first place,” Faraz deplored.
He came down hard on Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government for making an “anti-poor” budget.
“You (PML-N) had a so-called experienced team—you had the experience of over 30 years in power—where all those expertise and experience have vanished?”Faraz asked.
The former federal minister said the upcoming budget contains Rs750 billion taxes under the head of the levy.
He pointed out that five witnesses linked to money laundering cases against Sharif family have died of heart attacks under highly questionable circumstances. “But there is no one to question them — to take them on,” the PTI senator said.
Meanwhile, Shahzad Waseem took on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for announcing the election schedule on the Senate seat that has fallen vacant due to the death of Sikandar Mandhro from the PPP.
“He (Mandhro) is not even buried yet. His funeral is yet to take place but the ECP has issued the election schedule on the vacant seat,” the PTI senator deplored.
“And when the same ECP is asked whether it is prepared for general elections— the response is totally negative,” Waseem added.
The chairman Senate commented, “We have not yet notified the vacant seat—his (Mandhro’s) body has to be brought back home from the United States—it is not appropriate (for the ECP) to issue the election schedule at this point.”
Sanjrani directed Secretary Senate Qasim Samad Khan to reach out to the ECP and convey the sense of the house—against the issuance of the election schedule on Mandhro’s seat— till the vacant seat is notified by the Senate Secretariat.
Mushtaq Ahmed from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said “There’s no use of appealing to the ECP. This won’t help. The ECP is good for nothing. The ECP is like ‘Razia trapped among dacoits.”
PTI’s Azam Swati said “It has become inevitable to get rid of this ECP. The “imported government” has given in to slavery. It will not do anything in this regard.”
PPP’s Tangi demanded of the ECP to immediately discard the election schedule on the vacant seat of Mandhro.
Former deputy chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla denied that the PPP had anything to do with the issuance of the election schedule by the ECP on the seat that got vacated due to Mandhro’s death.
Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani from the PPP said no institution should be criticised over Mandhro’s death issue. “If anyone has objection to ECP, they should come up with logic instead of hurling wild allegations. We should respect the state institutions instead of maligning them,” he said.
In a related development, the ECP slightly revised the election schedule for the vacant Senate seat but kept the polling date unchanged: July 6. As per the revised schedule: nominations to be filed: June 17-22, publication of candidates’ names: June 23, and scrutiny of nomination papers: June 24.
The house was adjourned till Friday (June 17).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022