- PTI leader accuses govt of having loans written-off
- PML-N leader denies allegations
The slogan ‘go speaker go’ reverberated in the Punjab Assembly Friday when the leader of the opposition was not allowed to speak by Rana Muhammd Iqbal Khan, who was chairing the session.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed was trying to move his out-of-turn adjournment motion against the loan written-offs by the Bank of Punjab (BoP) between 2008 and 2016, in which 168 companies and individuals had got their loans of Rs 1.5 billion written off.
The House was presented details on the loan write-offs during the previous sitting of the ongoing 26th session of the assembly.
On Friday, the situation worsened when the speaker interrupted the opposition leader and told him that he was only entitled to read the motion, and not to give a speech. The speaker however, allowed the opposition leader to speak upon the request of Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah.
This triggered a gruelling response from the opposition, with Mehmoodur Rasheed accusing the speaker of being biased.
“It is against the sanctity of your office that you have allowed me to speak after taking dictation from the minister,” the opposition leader said.
Continuing his diatribe, Rasheed said while the ‘blue-eyed’ of the government had got their loans written-off, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was talking about transparency and accountability of the government.
“The people of the province want clarification of the amount of Rs 1.5 billion as ‘blue-eyed’ were given favours. Huge sums of Rs 230 million, 5.7 million and 5.5 million were written off for Urban Development, Mughal Pakistan and Tycoon Developers, respectively, over the past eight years,” the opposition leader argued.
In reply to Rasheed’s terse comments, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah stated that the banks had always been liberal in order to recover the interest.
“The past record of the BoP is better than other commercial banks and it has become the habit of the PTI to misguide the people,” he said, rejecting the assertion that ‘blue-eyed’ persons had benefitted from the loans write- off.
He also berated the opposition leader, saying Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed was oblivious of the ground facts.
Rana Sanaullah pointed out towards Jehangir Tareen and Aleem Khan without naming them while saying that the ‘ATM machines of Imran Khan’ would be caught very soon.
The opposition leader wanted to respond Rana Sanaullah but was not allowed to speak upon this the opposition members surrounded the dais of the speaker raising slogans against him.
“You can throw me out from this House but I will not budge from my position”, roared the opposition leader while standing in front of the dais of the speaker.
Another PTI lawmaker Mian Aslam Iqbal criticised the speaker and said that the speaker has tarnished the reputation of the House by being biased.
The proceedings halted as the quorum was pointed out by the opposition and the treasury benches could not fulfil the required quorum to proceed the session of the day.
The session was adjourned till Monday noon.
