Ruckus dominated the proceedings of National Assembly (NA) on Thursday over the speaker's refusal to give floor to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Ahsan Iqbal as outraged members from the opposition benches gathered in front of the speaker's dais and hurled accusation of political victimization at the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The treasury and opposition members continued blaming each other for the current political and economic situation in the country.
When Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri wanted to take up agenda item of the House after five members of the opposition and a minister delivered speeches, the opposition members insisted the deputy speaker to give floor to PML-N member Ahsan Iqbal for responding the speech of Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed. The deputy speaker said he would give floor to the opposition members after taking business of the House.
After it, the opposition members gathered in the front of the speaker's dais and insisted to give floor to Ahsan Iqbal. The deputy speaker strongly responded to the matter, and said: "The House is not for you all to deliver speeches and go home." Earlier, the PPP and PML-N leaders expressed reservations on the arrest of senior parliamentarian Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah. They said it is collective responsibility of all the political parties to work for the protection of sanctity of the Parliament and parliamentary democracy. They said Khursheed Shah should be allowed to explain his position in the House after issuing his production orders.
PPP leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said, "Mr Speaker, you are custodian of the House. You should summon National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials in the House and ask details of allegations then you should call Khursheed Shah on the next day to reply about those allegations." He said opposition members are being targeted intentionally. He said bureaucrats and PTI members are not being arrested.
Syed Naveed Qamar said problems of the country could not be resolved by putting the opposition leadership in jail. "We should solve the problems by sitting together," he suggested. "Mr Speaker, nobody can protect the rights of Khursheed Shah except you," he said.
PML-N leader Khawaja Asif strongly condemned the arrest of PPP leader Khursheed Shah and said Shah is the senior most member of the Parliament and he played role to increase the honour and supremacy of the Parliament. He said speaker should defend attacks on the Parliament.
He said, "The politicians who become tools of other institutions, weaken the Parliament. We should protect the rights of the members of the House."
Asad Mehmood of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said arrest of Khursheed Shah is not a surprise for him. He said NAB has already arrested two former prime ministers and a former president. He satirically said that NAB is above all institutions.
While responding to the opposition members, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed lashed out at the political rivals of the ruling PTI and pointed out the corrupt practices of the former governments.
"[Cases of] falooda and pakora walas are being surfaced," Saeed said while referring to the notorious fake bank accounts case. "The NAB is an independent institution and it is functioning as per its laws."
He said the NAB chairman was appointed by the previous government itself with the consultation of PPP.
He recalled that it was the PML-N and the PPP, which had accused each other of corruption, and said: "The PML-N once talked of dragging Zardari and mocked Khursheed Shah as a meter reader."
The minister said instead of making hue and cry on the arrest of their leaders, the opposition parties should raise the voice for the rights of Kashmiris. He said, "We should give a message that the entire nation and the Parliament stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their Kashmiri brethren."
He also pointed out the ongoing intense situation in Occupied Kashmir, saying that the people are short of medicines, food and other essential commodities. "Kashmiris are looking towards Pakistan but when they observe that these parliamentarians are crying for themselves in the House, they become disappointed."