- Three ministers along with over 17 members stage protest over ‘silence’
- Law minister reconfirms fabricated list as a fake, false document
- Speaker says fake list shared with PEMRA for action against perpetrator
ISLAMABAD: Fissures within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) started to broaden on Thursday as at least three ministers led a walkout from the National Assembly proceedings in protest for not investigating the alleged letter to monitor at least 37 ruling party lawmakers for their ‘links’ with the militant outfits.
Though it was Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Hussain Pirzada who announced the boycott but at least 20 lawmakers followed him including Federal Minister for Agriculture Sikandar Bosan and Federal Minister for Power Sardar Owais Ahmed Khan Leghari.
It merits mention that cracks within the ruling party have been emerging of late. It’s not limited to former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, as Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif also reminded his brother on Tuesday in Lahore convention that bad advisers had taken the party to this stage and Nawaz Sharif must get rid of such people.
The opposition members were seen cheering over the protest and criticism of the government by its own ministers. They kept thumping desk during the emotional speech of Pirzada. The opposition benches remained happy when the ruling party members left the House in protest.
Before staging the walkout, Riaz Pirzada spoke his heart out on a point of order, informing Speaker Ayaz Sadiq that despite emergence of a letter of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) about monitoring of the lawmakers for their alleged links to the banned outfits.
Perhaps, it was the first incidence involving three federal ministers among others, to stage a walkout in protest to the government’s ‘decision’ about their monitoring. In an emotional tenor, Pirzada expressed his anguish over a list allegedly issued by the Intelligence Bureau about monitoring of 37 legislators who allegedly had links with the banned outfits.
The list carries the names of mostly the lawmakers from South Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Riaz Pirzada, Baleeghur Rahman, Owais Leghari, Jamal Leghari, Sikandar Bosan, Raja Javed Ikhlas, Najaf Abbas Sial, Tahir Bashir Cheema, Shizra Mansab, Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, Khusro Bukhtiar and others.
Responding to his colleagues’ protest, Minister for Law Zahid Hamid said that there was a fake and false document. State Minister for Information Maryam Aurangzeb said that it has been declared that this was fake and fabricated list. Pirzada, who recently came back from his visit abroad, read out names of the lawmakers mentioned in the list introducing their family backgrounds and their services for the country.
He said that he had been shattered to know that his elders who had rendered sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan was now being alleged for links to the militant outfits. He was interrupted several times by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq who clarified that the list was declared a fake document by the IB and the matter had already been taken to the PEMRA for an action against the anchorperson.
The speaker also asked him to meet him in his chamber to discuss the issue. The minister has also raised the issue in the cabinet. “This is a humiliation to all my elders who laid down their lives for the sake of a peaceful and secure Pakistan. People know that my father who gave his blood for peace but now I despite being a federal minister am being monitored on the orders of the Prime Minister’s House,” Pirzada said.
Referring to Owais Leghari and Jamal Leghari, whose names are also on the list, he said that both the tribal leaders were sons of former president late Sardar Farooq Khan Leghari whose services for the country needed no introduction. “My question is that why the prime minister has not taken an action into the matter. This letter refers to instructions from his (PM) house,” he said.
“If I am a terrorist, then why I have been given the portfolio of a federal minister. This is an insult to me, my forefathers and this parliament,” he said, demanding a complete inquiry and response by the government over the issue. He threatened to continue the boycott of the House proceedings until the prime minister himself or a senior minister like Ahsan Iqbal or Senator Ishaq Dar makes a statement on the floor of the House.
Another lawmaker, whose name was in the fabricated list, said that the letter was aimed at damaging their reputation. “This serious matter has implications, it needs to be clarified and the clarification needs to be sent to all embassies and diplomatic missions as our kids study abroad. This report can harm their careers too,” Shezra Mansab Ali said.
Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali also spoke over the way former prime minister had been dealing blows to the state institutions by continuously attacking judiciary and military. “It is sad to realise that our own prime minister is attacking his own state institutions and this is bringing a bad name to the parliament,” he said.
“Everyone has to die one day. Since I am one of the older members of this House, it’s about time to speak up against what’s happening around. I may also die early than other members. But before I die, it could be a case that I see this parliament dying before me,” he concluded.
