LAHORE – The Punjab Assembly (PA) on Wednesday turned into a battlefield as Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) female members of the provincial assembly (MPA) and Unification Bloc members abused each other showing their immaturity.
As soon as the house proceedings started, the question hour related to the home department began on which Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah started answering questions. After the question hour, house proceedings were in progress when Unification Bloc MPA Sheikh Allauddin was given the floor by the chair on which PML-Q MPAs started chanting lota lota. He lost his patience and starting hurling abuses towards female PML-Q MPAs.
Allauddin not only abused the women MPAs but said, “Those people who taunt me manage their make-up expenses from the medical bills obtained from the PA”. Allauddin said that the House should form a committee and he will prove that how many times some people had submitted fake medical bills to claim re-imbursement.
The Unification Bloc member used more abusive languages on which PML-Q MPA Samina Khawar Hayat started throwing some “stuff” from her bag towards him. The situation became tense when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPAs jumped in and also passed harsh words.
The treasury members tried to control the situation but no one was ready to listen to the speaker who made repeated attempts to calm the members down. When the situation became a little normal, PML-Q Parliamentary Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, on a point of order, said that the word ‘lota’ is now known as a parliamentary word and Allauddin should not mind adding that he is always a “trouble creator”. “Sheikh Saab should not get personal and avoid attacks on families and personal life of other MPAs”, he added.
On this the speaker ordered to expunge all indecent and harsh words from the proceedings but his ruling was enough to force PML-Q MPAs to remain silent. The speaker directly warned Samina Khawar Hayat not to use abusive language and asked PPP MPA Ashraf Sohna to control his MPAs. Sohna, on a point of order, asked the chair to look at the attitudes of the treasury and opposition members and decide that who is not interested in the house business. He said that the treasury is not ready to listen to even a single word of criticism but the opposition is still serious in running the house business peacefully.
Sohna flayed Allauddin and said that it was the worst and black day in the history of PA after the words and abusive language used by the Unification Bloc member for female legislators. He asked the chair to ensure an apology from the Unification Bloc member and if he is not willing to say sorry then he should be suspended for the rest of the session. Sohna said that if both demands of the opposition are not considered seriously, the PPP will boycott the house proceedings for the remaining days. Afterwards, all opposition members, including PML-Q MPAs, left the house. The speaker tried to stop them but the opposition did not listen to the chair’s request.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, on a point of order, said that he was hopeful that the opposition will talk on merit. He said that members of both benches crossed their limits and it was not the mistake of only treasury members. Sanaullah said that house proceedings were in progress when opposition MPAs started chanting slogans. The law minister said that three to four female MPAs of the opposition will never be allowed to take the house hostage. He requested the chair to continue the house business.
Speaker Rana Iqbal formed a four-member committee of treasury members including Dr Asad Ashraf, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, Ahmad Ali Aulakh and Ghazala Saad Rafique to call the opposition members back. Sanaullah again asked the chair to run the house business. Allauddin said that the House should form a committee to probe into the matter and said that he will not tender an apology.
PML-Q and Unification Bloc members trade barbs
