PPP leader says opposition is united on Panama Leaks, demand resignations of Sharif brothers
–Rana Sanaullah rejects Dawn’s story, terms it ‘tabled story’
A resolution against the aggression of Indian forces at the Line of Control (LoC) was unanimously passed by the treasury members in the absence of opposition parties during the session of Punjab Assembly on Friday.
The resolution was presented by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah against the false claim of ‘surgical strikes’ by Indian forces at LoC. The resolution was passed at a time when not a single member of the opposition was present in the house, as all the opposition parties had boycotted the session.
Earlier in the day, the 24th session of Punjab Assembly started under the chair of its speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan after a delay of two hours and the session will remain in progress for ten days, according to the law minister.
All the opposition parties — including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) — recorded their protest emphatically by raising anti-government slogans in the house soon after the end of the question-answer session.
“The recent remarks of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) that there is dictatorship prevailing in the country instead of democracy are charge-sheet against the Sharif brothers,” the Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid said before walking out from the house. He further added that the government was ignoring the reservations of opposition parties regarding the Orange Line Metro Train, but now the remarks by CJP have endorsed the stance of opposition parties.
“The government deliberately leaked the secret information about a meeting between the civilian and military leadership to malign the prestigious institution of the country despite the fact that this institution has rendered thousands of sacrifices for the survival of Pakistan,” Mehmood said, while refereeing towards the news story carried by Dawn.
PPP’s Parliamentary Leader Qazi Ahmad Saeed said that the Sharif brothers have lost the moral ground to remain in the power corridors after the remarks given by the CJP. “The opposition is united in the house against the Panama Leaks and demand the resignations of Sharif brothers,” the PPP leader said.
Law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan rejected the story carried by Dawn earlier in the day while speaking to media persons and termed the news story as a ‘tabled story’. He came down hard on PTI leader Imran Khan and said that Khan does not want the issue of Panama Leaks to be probed as he himself owns offshore companies. “I ask Imran Khan how he has built his palace at Bani Gala worth billion of rupees?” law minister said. Imran Khan does not want to see Pakistan progressing, but I am sure that this country will progress despite the hindrances being created by Khan, he added.
PTI lawmaker from Lahore Shoaib Siddiqui, while speaking on a point of order, said that the quantity of arsenic in drinking water is more than 20 per cent in his constituency of PP-147 while World Health Organisation (WHO) allows only 10 per cent amount of the arsenic.
“We decided to build water filtration plants on our own, but the government hast started closing these plants,” he claimed and raised questions about the ‘Saaf Pani Project’ of the Punjab government. Similar concerns regarding the issue of unhygienic drinking water were raised by some other lawmakers as well.
Muhammad Yousaf Kaselya (PP-232) and Malik Umar Farooq (PP-7) took their oaths after winning the by-elections from Vehari and Rawalpindi respectively. The session will resume on Monday.
