LAHORE – The release of US national Raymond Davis and arrest of PCS officers dominated the Punjab Assembly (PA) proceedings on Monday, which restrained the treasury benches from carrying out its routine work.
The opposition alleged that the Punjab government played its role for the release of Davis saying that the House should be allowed to hold a debate on the topic that how Davis was released. The PA speaker started the question hour session but point of orders did not allow the session to be concluded.
Opposition members especially from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) gave a tough time to the treasury benches and kept chanting slogans of “shame shame” against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government for its alleged involvement in ensuring the release of Davis.The opposition also blamed the Punjab government for taking action and registering FIRs against PCS officers. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) members of the provincial assembly (MPA) chose to remain silent on Davis’ issue. PPP MPA Sajida Mir blasted the Punjab government for allegedly victimising PCS officers. PA Speaker Rana Iqbal sent some members to bring back Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) MPA Ali Haider Noor Khan Niazi who had boycotted the House proceedings to protest against Davis’ release.
PML-Q Parliamentary Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, on a point of order, said there was a question mark over presence of all the heirs of Davis’ victims’ and absence of lawyers’ on the day Davis was released. PML-Q MPAs Amna Ulfat and Seemal Kamran said that the treasury benches sent Davis back to the US and were now protesting against the same act. PML-Q MPA Samina Khawar Hayat demanded the chair to hold an open discussion on the issue. PML-Q MPAs also chanted slogans when a PML-N MPA tried to explain his party’s stance over the issue.
Sajida Mir said that the Punjab government was allegedly favouring District Management Group (DMG) officers and victimising and disgracing PCS officers. Interestingly, Sajida continued to call DMG officers as DGM officers. She said the DMG Group had taken the province hostage adding that Punjab was not the property of anyone. The PPP MPA said that PCS officers were also well-educated but the Punjab government was disgracing them. She pointed out that Ahad Cheema, a BPS-18 officer of the DMG Group, was posted as Lahore DCO against a BPS-20 post.
PPP MPA Faiza Malik said that action against PCS officers was condemnable adding that during the last three years no strategy was evolved to address their issues. PML-N MPA Rana Afzal, defending the government over the issue, said that during the last three years, the Punjab govt took record initiatives for PCS officers. The House echoed with the slogans of “shame shame” when Afzal said that both DMG and PCS officers were asset of the province. Afterwards, the chair asked Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah to brief the House about the progress made by the committee, which was formed to address the issues of PCS officers. The House also offered fateha for the departed souls of the people who were killed in violent incidents in Karachi and Quetta. The speaker adjourned the session until today (Tuesday) due to lack of quorum.
