- Around 70 PML-N lawmakers join hands against ‘arrogant and rude behaviour’ of finance minister
- Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and PM’s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi reach London for meeting with PM
The absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is taking its toll on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as around 70 of the party’s members of National Assembly have staged a silent rebellion against ‘acting prime minister’ Ishaq Dar for what they call his ‘arrogant and rude behaviour’ towards the ruling party’s lawmakers.
The senior party leadership, however, took immediate notice of the situation as the premier telephoned Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and asked him to address the grievances of the angry lawmakers.
In a related development, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and PM’s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi have reached London to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz.
Sources said that the PM had summoned the senior party leaders after taking notice of the reports of formation of a forward bloc in the party.
Meanwhile, Najaf Abbas Sial, one of the leaders of the rebel group, told Pakistan Today that the Chief Minister’s Secretariat has contacted the rebel members and assured them immediate resolution of all their issues.
“A meeting would soon be held and all issues would be resolved amicably. We are actually not against the party and rather we were voicing our concerns against a specific behavior of some individuals. We don’t harbor hate against the party or the premier,” he clarified.
Asked if the angry MPs had contacted Ishaq Dar, Sial said that Dar, who is acting as de facto prime minister, does not even shake hands with the parliamentarians.
“For most of the lawmakers, it’s not the first time that they have been elected. We have a history as our forefathers have also represented our people. But people like Dar don’t have mandate of the people. Such indirectly elected people can’t even get elected as a councilor. This is perhaps why they disrespect the elected people,” he added.
He said that the people demand jobs, electricity, clean drinking water and health facilities but there is no one to help redress these issues as the prime minister is abroad and there is no one to listen to them.
He said that despite the fact that the parliament has passed a unanimous resolution to increase salaries of lawmakers, the Finance Ministry is reluctant to comply.
“Each MP gets only Rs 36,000 per month which is peanuts. Even a clerk gets more salary than me. In Balochistan, MPA get Rs 350,000 in salary. The salary being paid to us is totally unacceptable. Our remuneration should at least be similar to that of a grade 22 officer who draws Rs 200,000,” he added.
He said that only four ministers listen to problems of the lawmakers and that no one else does it.
“Only Khwaja Asif, Abid Sher Ali, Balighur Rehman and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry listen to us. No one else in the cabinet listens to us,” he claimed. He said that the cabinet members are destroying the PML-N government.
On Friday, during the windup speech by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the rebels, led by Najaf Abbas Sial, Hamid Hameed and a few other lawmakers from South and Central Punjab, boycotted the minister’s speech during the crucial budget session, prompting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Amir Dogar to point out the lack of quorum.
The government only managed to save face after Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif went to the parliament cafeteria and assured the rebel MPs that all their issues will be addressed on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a source in the government told Pakistan Today that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had summoned Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid to London for consultation.
When contacted, a ruling party lawmaker from Central Punjab said that the rude and arrogant behaviour of Ishaq Dar and failure of Khawaja Asif and Abid Sher Ali to manage the extensive and unscheduled load shedding was a major reason for their boycott of Dar’s speech on Federal Budget 2016-17.
‘CORRUPTION GOES ON’:
Asked why the load shedding had been increased, the lawmaker alleged that the water and power minister, with the help of the bureaucracy, was involved in massive corruption.
“The ministry officials are involved in massive money-minting spree before Eid. Electricity supply has been diverted to the industrial units from domestic users. According to my information, each superintendent engineer is being paid Rs 35,000 per hour for additional electricity by the industry,” he said.
The MNA said that when the lawmakers go to take up the matter with the water and power ministers, they don’t have time to listen to their issues.
“Both ministers appear to have better things to do rather than listening to lawmakers. One is busy with his family and the other is settling personal scores against his adversary in his own district,” the lawmaker said referring to Khawaja Asif and Abid Sher Ali.