Row over Rana’s statement mars PA proceedings

The Punjab Assembly was a scene of mayhem on Wednesday when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came face to face over Law Minister Rana Sanaullah’s remarks against Senator Babar Awan. Condemning Sanaullah’s statement, the PPP lawmakers asked him to apologise, while the PML-N legislators stood up to back Sanaullah. This turned the House into a fish market as legislators from both sides engaged in mud sliding causing a bedlam in the House. At the onset of proceedings, Opposition Leader Raja Riaz said on a point of order that Sanaullah declared PPP Senator Babar Awan was liable to death and if anything odd happened to any of the PPP leaders, including Aawan, Sanaullah and Punjab chief minister would be held responsible and cases would be registered against them.
Riaz said they would not let the province become Karachi or Kharotabad and would face the conspiracies of opponents. He said the Punjab law minister had tried to spread anarchy in the province by using his “evil mind”. “The statement was illegal and irresponsible, which not only hurt the sentiments of PPP workers, but also earned a bad name for the prestigious House,” the opposition leader added.
The PPP was pursuing politics of reconciliation from day one, and “we did not resort to any un-parliamentary or undemocratic move during the budget speech, as we wanted the Punjab budget to be approved in a peaceful manner”, Riaz said.
He accused Sanaullah of always making provocative statements to please his leadership. The opposition leader said remarks like Sanaullah’s had led to the assassination of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer. Riaz said the Punjab law minister had connections with terrorist organisations and such a person must not be in charge of an important department. The opposition leader demanded Sanaullah apologise in the House for his immoral remarks against the PPP leader or the speaker should constitute a commission in this regard. PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shaukat Mahmood Basra said the law minister was toeing a specific agenda and “keeping in view his mindset and links with terrorist organisations, religious parties had demanded his removal from office”.
Basra added that Sanaullah was “the ring leader of terrorist organisations and a group of land grabbers”.
On this point, PML-N’s Tahir Khalil Sindhu said everyone knew Awan had fled the scene of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and had information about the possible assassination of Salman Taseer as well.
“Owing to his wrong policies, former federal minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was murdered,” he added. PPP leader Zulfiqar Gondal demanded the resignation of Sanaullah for having links with terrorists. Things turned ugly when the treasury and opposition benches adhered to sloganeering against each other. The situation compelled the speaker to adjourn the assembly proceedings for an hour.
Later, the speaker met leaders of both sides in his chamber and eased tempers. When the proceedings resumed, Law Minister Sanaullah said he and his party (PML-N) did not intend to harm the property or life of any individual. The opposition leader said the chief minister has assured his party that any such incident would not be repeated in the future, adding that “we must respect each other’s leadership”.
Later, Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa and PML-Q Parliamentary Leader endorsed and appreciated the viewpoint of the opposition leader. The PPP members urged the chief minister to stop his ministers from passing provocative statements, otherwise, the party would left with no choice but to react in similar fashion.
Later, members of the treasury and opposition discussed the provincial budget in detail and presented their views over budgetary allocations. The PML-N members insisted the Budget 2011-12 was the most-sustainable and viable one, while opposition legislators pointed out flaws in the budget document and demanded the provincial government make corrections in its spending, so that a maximum number of people could benefit from precious public resources.