Sloganeering and walkout by the PML-N legislators was the order of the day during the National Assembly’s proceedings on Monday, with Khwaja Saad Rafique of the PML-N questioning the slack attitude and inaction by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani over his commitments made on the floor of the House on a host of issues.
Speaking on a point of order, Rafique put seven questions to the House and asked Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik to come to the House and answer them. “The Rangers brutally killed a youngster in Karachi and a photographer filmed the entire scene bravely.
The House took up this matter and all members, rising above the political divide, asked the PM to bring the culprits to justice under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The PM assured the House of personally monitoring the investigation but gave no directions. Rather he diverted the matter, accusing the PML-N members of humiliating the armed forces,” he said, adding that since the chief executive did not take up the matter, the SC took suo motu action.
“The commission formed to probe the Abbottabad incident has also not started working, nor has the government taken any action to protest the unabated US drone attacks,” he said. “Why is the PM humiliating the parliament? Where is the report on the Kharotabad incident? Rehman Malik should also clarify why he had declared the murdered youth a criminal? Why has the government not yet implemented the SC’s direction to remove the Rangers DG and Sindh IG, as the three-day deadline has expired today? We are going to walkout from the House proceedings,” the PML-N leader said.
All PML-N MNAs then stood up and chanted slogans against the government and later staged a token walkout.
The sloganeering and walkout irked NA Speaker Fehmida Mirza, who urged the members not to raise slogans in parliament and not to walkout from proceedings, since they were all given an opportunity to speak their heart and there was no justification for raising slogans and walking out.
The PPP’s Khurshid Shah said all six Rangers personnel involved in the killing of the youngster had been arrested and would be tried under the law of the land. “The PML-N legislators talk about the respect of parliament while they humiliate the parliament by their conduct.
Soon after the Abbottabad incident, the joint session of parliament was held and a resolution passed. The government has formed an inquiry commission and the opposition did not oppose even a single member of the commission. But if they want to play with the galleries, no one can stop them,” he said. He said the PPP would support the Punjab government to get the budget 2011-12 passed from the provincial assembly, so the Punjab government should not rely on PML-Q defectors.
As the PML-N members ended their walkout, the PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal said his party’s criticism was in no way undemocratic. The PPP’s Nasir Shah criticised his party’s government for presenting an anti-people budget, saying the budget would only serve the purpose of the elites and had nothing for the poor.
“The PPP came into power chanting the slogan of Roti, Kapra aur Makan. But today, the slogan of the party is America, power and bureaucracy. They use the name of the masses but do nothing for the people. They forbade me to participate in a private TV channel show, but I will go and participate,” Shah said in a defiant tone.
