The PML-N on Wednesday dubbed the PPP’s democratic government worse than that of Pervez Musharraf’s autocratic regime, triggering an exchange of harsh words between PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique and National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, who later expunged remarks of the PML-N leader by calling them “foul”.
PPP legislators also responded to the accusations in kind, raising temperatures further. Journalists had also boycotted the proceedings of both houses of parliament and staged a sit-in outside the Parliament House against what they called the government’s inaction on demands for a commission to probe Saleem Shehzad’s murder. As Saad Rafique severely criticised President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the speaker asked him not to use foul language against the president and later directed for switching off his mike without allowing him to complete his speech on the budget.
She also asked Saad to address the chair rather than addressing other members present in the House. This triggered an exchange of harsh words between the two, with Saad asking the speaker to behave like a custodian of the House rather than a PPP leader. Fehmida directed to expunge the remarks, which infuriated the PML-N leader and he again used harsh words against the chair. Later, Pervaiz Malik requested the speaker to allow Saad Rafique to complete his speech, which she did. Saad then accused the government of jumping to the establishment’s bandwagon and indulging in corrupt practices, warning the PPP against its anti-government movement.
“We will not give more time to the government now. My party has been pushed against the wall. Journalists are today holding a sit-in against the government’s inaction on their demands. Why is the government not forming a commission headed by a judge to probe Saleem Shehzad’s murder?” he said.
“The PPP is not the champion of democracy, rather this party is hell bent on destroying the democratic system. A federal minister is spending billions of rupees of the BISP and the Baitul Maal to win votes in Azad Kashmir elections. The people are forced to commit suicides due to poverty, while the president and the prime minister are wearing suites costing the country Rs 500,000 each,” he said, calling the reconciliatory policy of the PPP a policy of hypocrisy. PPP MNA Imtiaz Safdar Warraich said sloganeering and protest by the PML-N legislators during the budget speech was a sad event in the parliamentary history. “We didn’t expect such a behaviour from those who signed the Charter of Democracy and vowed to strengthen democracy,” he remarked.