While the special parliamentary committee failed to clear “Domestic Violence Bill”, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Shah expelled a number of women from the meeting who tried to gate crash the committee room under the leadership NGO chief Farzana Bari.
The NGOs tried to attend the meeting without an invitation that annoyed Khursheed Shah and he ordered the security guards to expel them.
He also admonished PML-N MNA Tahira Aurangzeb for bringing them to the meeting.
On being expelled from the meeting, Farzana Bari and other women representatives of various NGOs strongly protested outside the Parliament House and raised vociferous slogans against members.
The atmosphere of the meeting became violent when PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq and JUI-F’s Attaur Rehman sought to know the identity of some women in the meeting and questioned at whose invitation they were attending. Shah expressed his ignorance but Farzana Bari said they had come with MNA Tahira Aurangzeb. At this, the chairman took a strong exception and said no woman or man could attend the meeting without an invitation or permission of the committee and ordered them to get out of the Parliament House. The deputy secretary of the National Assembly summoned the sergeant at arms and directed him to take the ladies out of the building. This infuriated the women and they strongly protested the treatment. However, they were forced out of the building. Meanwhile, the deadlock persisted on different sections of the Domestic Violence Bill. Fazlur Rehman strongly opposed the bill while Syed Khursheed Shah said that they would not allow western culture in Pakistan and would not get dictation from anyone.
