The war of words between Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Pakistan People’s Party MPA Shaukat Basra did not end on Tuesday and Punjab Assembly could not complete its agenda. Sana and Opposition Leader Raja Riaz kept criticising each other for being ill-mannered outside the PA. The session started with a delay of two hours, as Opposition and Treasury members were negotiating to settle the Rana-Basra issue. However, it could not be resolved and the session started under the chair of Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal. Immediately after the recitation of naat, the time of Question Hour was to start but Opposition Leader Raja Riaz Ahmed tried to speak on point of order but he was barred by the speaker. “You have agreed in Business Advisory Committee that there will be no ‘point of order’ during Question Hour and now you are not following your words,” the speaker tried to remind Raja Riaz, who did not stop and said, “People are dying because of spurious drugs and I want to offer fateha for those people.”
The Treasury and Opposition benches then started shouting at each other. The speaker also failed to control the members. Parliamentary Secretary for Law Tahir Khalil Sindhu endorsed the Treasury benches. However, the speaker succumbed to the demands of Opposition members and allowed to offer fateha for the deceased. Soon-after the dua, one again the Treasury and Opposition benches came in action and started shouting. Basra strongly criticized Sana for his outbursts in the PA on Monday and said, “Assembly session cannot be carried out in the presence of such a person.”
Sana then walked to the speaker and said something to him, after which the session was adjourned till Friday.
Later speaking to the media Raja Riaz criticized Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) episode. He held Punjab CM responsible for the tragic deaths and once again demanded his resignation. He also criticised Rana saying, “The words he (Rana Sana Ullah) uttered have never been used in the history of Punjab Assembly.”
Sana while talking to the media said it was the right of the opposition to criticize government. “Nobody has the right to disgrace an individual,” he said adding it was astonishing that the Opposition members take favour from the CM and at the same it they use objectionable remarks for the CM. “I would never allow any person or party to disgrace my CM,” he said adding he would never apologise over the issue.
PA TO-DO LIST
