Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal was forced to adjourn the assembly session till 4pm on Saturday, after the opposition staged a walkout disturbing the decorum of the house.
The assembly witnessed pandemonium in another of its sessions on Friday after the PPP-led opposition pointed fingers at the PML-N members allegedly holding dual nationalities. During the session, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member Ashraf Sohna demanded strict action against those responsible for the Services Hospital fire. The statement ignited a verbal brawl between the PML-N and the opposition members, forcing the PPP to later walkout from the assembly.
PPP’s Mohammed Ashraf Sohna held the Punjab government responsible for the Service’s Hospital fire and said the situation in the government hospitals was pathetic and that patients and their attendants experienced hardships at the hands of the doctors and the paramedical staff.
He alleged that the officers responsible for the deaths of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) patients due to fake medicines had been exonerated by the court as the government did not set any rules and regulations.
Another PPP lawmaker Ehsanul Haq Noulathia said the Punjab chief minister has no time to address important issues but had set up a camp to earn cheap publicity. His statement provoked the members at the treasury benches who started shouting. Ultimately the chair stopped the opposition members from discussing the issue.
Following this, Punjab Assembly opposition leader Raja Riaz, while speaking on a Point of Order, criticised the Punjab chief minister accusing him of getting a PML-N member elected on a provincial assembly seat reserved for minorities. Opposition member Syed Hassan Murtaza and PPP member Haji Muhammad Ishaq also raised objections against Rana Asif election.
PML-N MPA Amir Raphail Sohtra and Parliamentary Law and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary strongly criticised the opposition for their remarks and said the Punjab Assembly opposition intends to politicise the issue and fan religious extremism. Riaz’s statements prompted the PML-N members to counter his remarks, turning the house into a fish-market.
Meanwhile, former Punjab finance minister Rana Asif clarified during the session that he is, by birth, Christian and that the misunderstanding about his religion was a result of a NADRA data error. He added that he has written several applications to NADRA in this regard for correction but the authority has not removed the error.
Rana Asif Mahmood, while expressing concerns about his life stated that he feared that he will be assassinated like former federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti for being member of a minority community.
“The media is propagating against me. It is the same propaganda which was disseminated against Shahbaz Bhatti and Salman Taseer,” he added. “I have also been facing the same wave of extremism which former governor Taseer and former minister Bhatti faced,” Asif said.
Earlier on Thursday while talking to the media, Rana Asif told journalists that he is a Christian. He said fake allegations leveled by PML-Q Khawar Hayyat and PTI leader Inamullah Niazi had pushed him to the death row like Shahbaz Bhatti.
Showing his baptism certificate, he declared that a conspiracy was being hatched against him and his family, but he did not mention any person’s name or the reason behind it.
He also clarified that he got married with the cousin of a Christian leader in 1983 and that his children are also Christians. Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Zaheer accepted Asif’s clarification. Asif said he had resigned from the finance ministry.
He said Punjab Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman will replace him as the new finance minister and will present the budget for the year 2012-13 today (Saturday).
Provincial Law Minister, Rana Sanaullah also stepped in to bring down the temperature, giving clarifications on Rana Asif’s religious beliefs and the dual nationality issue.
The opposition had boycotted the session and staged a walkout after the heated debate on the issues. In the absence of the opposition members, Assembly Speaker, Rana Iqbal adjourned the session till June 9.
