ISLAMABAD – Altaf Hussain’s demand for martial law in Punjab triggered a frenzied standoff between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the National Assembly on Tuesday with furious parliamentarians from both sides trading barbs and forcing the deputy speaker to adjourn the House before time.
Responding to MQM chief Asif Husain’s point of order in which he had alleged that the PML-N had turned Punjab into a police state, PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal said inviting martial law was the abrogation of the constitution and a person asking the army to take over was liable to be tried under Article 6 of the constitution.
“After the passage of the 18th Amendment, any one who persuades the army to impose martial law is liable to held accountable under Article 6,” Iqbal said, adding that street crimes in Punjab had mounted due to expansion of the MQM’s structure in the province. He called the MQM a regional political force which resorted on the politics of prejudice.
“Altaf Hussain says he will come in wearing a uniform but first he should tell the nation whether that uniform would be of the Indian army or the Israeli army? Has Altaf got commissioned in the Indian or UK army?” he questioned. On Iqbal’s tirade against Altaf and the MQM, the MQM parliamentarians stood up on their seats and started chanting, “Inqalab aaye ga, takht Lahore beh jaye ga”.
The MQM’s reaction also forced PML-N MNAs to express solidarity with Iqbal and they also started shouting slogans against the MQM. Iqbal then asked MQM lawmakers to listen patiently. Earlier, Asif Husain of the MQM said those demanding military action in Karachi were the ones who launched an army operation against the MQM in 1992 and established military courts to curb the MQM.
“As a result, they have a regional party status which is restricted to few pockets in Punjab with no representation in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added. He said the PML-N had no sympathy with the citizens of Karachi as it had no stakes there.
“The Punjab government has badly failed to check cases of rape, murder and other crimes in the country though it handed over the province to an absconder, Rana Maqbool, to convert Punjab into a police state,” he added.
