ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Upper House of the Parliament Tuesday protested over “shameful” attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, staged a walkout from the House and demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

“I have just learnt about attack on Raoof Hasan—things have reached to the point where the spokesperson of the country’s largest political party has been attacked and left seriously injured with such an audacious impunity—this is a very serious issue,” stated Shibli Faraz, the Opposition Leader in Senate, on the floor of the House in the Senate session.

After hearing this news, the opposition chanted slogans, “shame, shame, shame,” and staged a protest.

Law Minister Azam Tarar said he would take up this issue with the interior minister or Islamabad Police chief, and inform the House accordingly.

Action would be taken as per law, he said.

Sherry Rehman from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), who was presiding over the Senate session at that time, condemned attack on the PTI leader, and sought report from the federal government.

The opposition senators walked out of the House in protest to attack on Hasan.

Apart from that, speaking on her calling attention notice over “imposition of tax on solar energy users undermining the efforts of sustainable green energy,” PPP’s Quratulain Marri, said, the imposition of the said tax is discouraging the use of green energy in the country.

The country is faced with load shedding of up to 18 hours, and the government has failed to address this issue, she deplored.

Power Minister Awais Leghari denied that the federal government was imposing any tax on solar energy sector. He also denied the reports that government was removing the net metering system. “This issue is at all not under consideration in our talks with IMF (International Monetary Fund)—we have talked with IMF about the ways to stop circular debt,” he said.

The prices of solar panels have decreased globally—and investment in solar panels is “beneficial at the moment,” the minister said.

Overall, there are over 113,000 solar net metering connections in Pakistan, he said.“We are responsible policymakers—I am giving a clear policy statement here; if any policy is reviewed, it would be done in a transparent manner, after due consultations with the stakeholders— no policy is being introduced to replace net metering,” Leghari stated.

Taking the floor, Faisal Vawda strongly criticised the superior judiciary and said that he would move a privilege motion in the House against Supreme Court judge Athar Minallah over his “proxy” remarks, which, Vawda alleged, were directed against him.

Meanwhile, the House passed a unanimous resolution, moved by PPP’s Rehman, to pay homage to the Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s late president, who lost his life in helicopter crash incident.

Apart from that, three presidential ordinances; Apostille Ordinance 2024, Seed (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 and Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2024 were laid in the House.

The House was adjourned till Wednesday (May 22).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024