MPs? ruckus derails NA budget debate

[ahlam1399]

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly debate on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s budget was derailed by chaos in the House as lawmakers chanted loudly before Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif could speak, forcing the deputy speaker to adjourn the House before time.As per the rules, Shahbaz Sharif was scheduled to open the budget debate but as he stood up from his seat a number of other members rose from their seats and requested to speak on a point of order by putting aside the agenda.Members of the government chanted slogans against the opposition leader as he continued to try to speak — an episode which lasted more than 45 minutes as the opposition leader stood up and sat back down several times. The incessant chanting appeared to be in response to opposition protests during the budget session on Tuesday.Earlier, when the House proceedings began at around 10.30am, Speaker Asad Qaiser allowed senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to speak order, who demanded the issuance of production orders of former President Asif Ali Zardari so that he could attend the budget session.“The former president is at a three-minute distance from the National Assembly and his absence from the important budget session is unfortunate and it will not be a good precedent,” Ashraf said. He asked the treasury benches to exhibit “responsible attitude” in Parliament. He added: “Parliament reflects the collective wisdom of 220 million people and it should be respected.”Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari expressed her displeasure for providing the speaker’s dais to opposition leader Shahbaz to begin the budget debate. “It has never happened in the past. Parliamentary tradition should be followed in this regard.”Time and again a number of parliamentarians rose from their seats seeking the chair’s permission to speak on point of order. This back and forth disrupted proceedings in the session as members from both sides of aisle kept arguing with each other, forcing the speaker to suspend the house proceeding for 10 minutes.Before suspending the proceedings, the speaker made repeated requests to maintain order in the house and avoid cross talk. On the resumption of the proceedings later, the speaker asked Shahbaz Sharif to start debate on the budget.But, Shahbaz again requested the speaker to ensure order in the House so he could speak on the budget. The situation forced the speaker to again suspend the house proceedings till 2.00pm.After Friday prayers, the House’s atmosphere did not change as deputy speaker Qasim Suri kept requesting Shahbaz for almost 45 minutes to open the debate, but to no avail. Shahbaz then asked the speaker to allow Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s Maulana Asad Mehmood to speak on a point of order.The deputy speaker promised he would give time to all members one by one once the budget debate began. He requested members to “show seriousness” and take up the agenda of the house. “It seems the opposition is divided and not allowing its leader to deliver speech on the federal budget,” he added.In his brief remarks, Shahbaz severally criticised the economic policies of the government and highlighted the miseries of the common man. Later, the deputy speaker adjourned the house to meet again on Monday at 4.30 pm.At a joint press conference following the Assembly session, opposition leaders criticised government lawmakers for disrupting the order in the House. The government does not want the budget session to continue, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif said, claiming he had heard ministers were ordered to disrupt the session on orders from the leadership.“Opposition leaders want to debate the budget, but the government does not want that. We want the budget to be passed,” former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told reporters. “We want to provide relief to the masses, but the government does not wish that to happen.”“The opposition leader had to start the budget debate, but government lawmakers continued to make a noise in the House. They don’t even know that it is the opposition leader who starts the budget debate,” said Raja Pervez Ashraf. “This is a puppet government. They do what they are told. They did not prepare this budget, the IMF did.”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/obbZ4IEPmqM

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