LAHORE – The Punjab Assembly (PA) on Friday again echoed with slogans of lota, lota when Unification Bloc Member Sheikh Allauddin, in order to justify the defections of his fellow colleagues, said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah also remained a member of both the Congress and the Muslim League for eight years. Allauddin said that if his claim was found wrong, he will resign along with 46 other members of the bloc. Not only the opposition but treasury MPAs also condemned Allauddin’s remarks and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Rana Tajammul accepted the defector’s challenge.
Speaking on a point of order, Allauddin said that in 1912, Jinnah was a member of the Congress and in 1913 he also joined the Muslim League. He said Jinnah asked then Muslim League chief Sir Agha Khan to make some amendments and later went to Lucknow adding that Jinnah remained a member of both political forces for eight years. The Unification Bloc Member said that in 1920, Jinnah resigned from the Congress due to differences with Mahatma Gandhi. He said that members of the political divide definitely have ‘big brains’ and they must realise this fact before calling anyone as turncoat (lota). On this, Tajammul said that Allauddin should not use the name of the father of nation to cover his own mistakes.
Allauddin said that the author of the book Dr Safdar Mahmood is still alive and gave the reference of Professor Sajjad to support his claim but some treasury members and all opposition MPAs got annoyed over the remarks and boycotted the proceedings. Opposition members, especially from the PML-Q, staged a protest outside the PA to register their protest against Allauddin’s remarks.
