The opposition in the Punjab Assembly (PA) boycotted the assembly session on Tuesday and staged a walkout from the House.
The PA session started at 11:28am instead of the scheduled time of 10am. Tuesday was considered as a private members day in which the opposition preferred to criticise the government and did not point out quorums nor boycotted the proceedings. Punjab Agriculture Minister Ahmed Ali Aulakh replied to questions about his department while five resolutions out of the total nine on social issues were passed by the House and the remaining four were kept pending until next week. The opposition boycotted the session due to the poor law and order in the province and according to them, PA Speaker Rana Iqbal was not giving them permission to speak on it.
The PPP’s Hassan Murtaza said that during last week, 14 men were killed in Gujranwala, 9 in Lala Musa, SHO Hadiara was killed while robbers stormed into PPP MPA Sajida Mir’s house and looted valuables, including jewellery. He said that the law and order was worst in Punjab while Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was presenting a different picture in the House. The speaker interrupted him and asked him to bring a call attention notice or assign any specific day for a debate over law and order.
Opposition Leader Raja Riaz supported Murtaza’s stance but he was also not encouraged by the speaker to speak in this regard. Riaz said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had fled to Turkey and while the city was giving the look of “Dacoit Raj”.
He said that corruption had increased by 10 percent in the province while people were afraid to leave their houses at night. Sanaullah interrupted him and suggested that a day should be assigned for a debate on the law and order where he would disclose all corruption whether it was 10 percent or 100 percent. The speaker endorsed the minister’s suggestions but did not allow Riaz to continue.
