ISLAMABAD: Media reports have emerged that Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to not issue production orders for the incarcerated members of the National Assembly, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
As reported by a private media outlet on Tuesday, the prime minister issued the directives during a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its coalition parties.
While addressing the meeting, he reportedly dubbed opposition members as “thieves” and “robbers”, observing that “nowhere in the world criminals come to the parliament on productions orders to deliver speeches against the prime minister or the government”.
The premier also issued directives for the treasury members to interrupt the speech by Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, rather than gossiping with opposition members in the parliamentary cafeteria, the report claimed.
He said those who trapped the country into heavy debts were “national criminals” and “would be treated in kind”.
The prime minister further sought a guarantee from the opposition to not hoot during his speech in the lower house. To which Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed answered that they “would not keep their word”.