Parliamentary debate on French envoy’s fate postponed till Friday

ISLAMABAD: A rare session of the National Assembly (NA) to decide on whether to expel the French ambassador – one of the demands made by the now-proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) – was held on Tuesday.

The debate on the matter was postponed till Friday.

During the session, a resolution, presented by PTI MNA Amjad Ali Khan, condemned the publication of blasphemous caricatures by the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in September last year.

It further regretted the attitude of the French president encouraging the elements hurting the sentiments of hundreds of millions of Muslims in the name of freedom of expression. The resolution therein called for apprising all the European countries, especially France, of the gravity of this matter.

In this regard, it sought detailed discussions with all the Muslim countries to take up issue jointly on international forums, and also called for the state to decide matters of international relations wherein “no person, group or party can exert unnecessary illegal pressure in this regard”.

Moreover, the presented resolution called for provincial governments to allocate specific sites for protests in all districts so that citizens’ daily life is not disrupted.

Amjad also requested the formation of a special parliamentary committee to discuss the French envoy’s expulsion. Following the MNA’s request, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan presented a separate resolution for the formation of the committee.

The resolution, after a verbal vote, was declared by NA Speaker Asad Qaiser as approved by the parliament, amid loud chants of objection by the opposition. At this point, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khan Abbasi called for an hour to review “insufficient” resolution.

During the debate, the PML-N stalwart and former prime minister regretted that the government called an emergency session of the NA – which was originally set to take place on April 22 – whilst not having spoken to other members of the opposition about his intention to do so.

“The way to go about it is that you speak to the opposition. I will say again that there is no two ways about the sanctity of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). [But] this resolution is, unfortunately, insufficient,” he remarked.

“You have presented the resolution. We will debate and include the additional provisions it should have and put them before you so that the house passes an agreed-upon resolution,” Abbasi said.

He also said that the “whole house” should be considered the committee to debate the French envoy’s expulsion. “There is no need for a special committee,” he said, adding: “It should be a committee of the whole house.”

Abbasi added that, for the past three years, parliament had been left in a crippled state and was turned into a den where nothing but abuses are hurled, the sort of remarks which were then ordered expunged by the speaker.

Later, in an unfortunate turn of events, a heated exchange took place between Abbasi and the speaker. It followed briefly after the resolution for the formation of a committee was declared accepted by the speaker.

It cannot be concretely said what sparked Abbasi’s anger.

Abbasi was seen in footage from the session approaching the speaker and saying: “You are making it […] controversial. Have you no shame?”

“Hold your tongue,” said the speaker in response. “You always speak such things and behave in such a manner.”

As things intensified, Abbasi added: “I will take off my shoe and hit you.”

“I too will do such a thing then. Please stay within your limits,” the speaker said to Abbasi, asking him to return to his seat.

Meanwhile, Maulana Asad Mehmood of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) regretted that the “opposition was not taken into confidence” over the resolution.

“You wanted to call an emergency session but you did not even bother to take the Opposition into confidence,” Mehmood said.

Addressing Speaker Asad Qaiser, he said: “You are not the government’s speaker, you are the speaker of the entire parliament.” “A speaker’s conduct must be impartial,” he added.

He called for the government to work with the opposition to bring forth a joint resolution. The Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri also addressed the parliament, saying that there is “history behind the resolution”.

He said that the banned TLP which had asked the government to table the resolution in parliament, “are citizens of Pakistan”.

Qadri said that many religious parties had indicated their support for the banned outfit. However, opposition members continued to chant loudly, objecting to the minister’s address.

The minister, in his address, also mentioned the Model Town incident in which protesters of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were killed.

He went on to speak of the Faizabad sit-in by the TLP. “When 20 people died in that incident, where were you then?” he asked the PML-N, who had been in power at the time.

Ahsan Iqbal objected to the resolution being presented by a private member and over the prime minister’s absence from parliament.

“All members of the parliament know that a private member resolution is non-official business,” he said.

“Where is the prime minister?” Iqbal asked. “We are debating such an important matter and the prime minister is busy with something else,” he said.

“Neither did the prime minister come, nor did any minister have the guts to present this resolution.”

He demanded that Minister for Rasheed or Minister for Religious Affairs Haq Qadri present the resolution to make it official business of the parliament. Iqbal also called for the two to give statements in the parliament regarding the events that had transpired the past week.

The PML-N leader furthermore said that the prime minister must be made obligated to sit in the parliament and take part in proceedings.

Iqbal said that the agreement which took place with TLP must be discussed in parliament.

“We wish to know what the state’s stance is in this matter. So you must take into confidence all of us.”

The PML-N leader called for the session to be adjourned and for the government and opposition to sit down and hold talks so a resolution that has the consent of both the government and the opposition can be brought to the parliament.

This emergency session of the NA came a day after the government and the TLP held at least three rounds of parleys to defuse tensions over republishing of blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in France and subsequent riots launched by members of the militant group that have engulfed the country for more than a week now.

In an earlier video message, the interior minister said that the group had agreed to call off protests across the country. However, talks with the party will continue, he said.

Rasheed further said that cases registered against workers and supporters of the party under the Fourth Schedule will also be withdrawn. The Fourth Schedule is a list of proscribed individuals who are suspected of terrorism and/or sectarianism under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

He also announced to give a detailed briefing on the development through a press conference later in the day.

The minister had expressed hope on Monday that the last trouble spot in Lahore, where Rizvi’s supporters were still rallying, would soon be cleared as talks proceed.

The government opened negotiations with the radical party on Monday after they freed 11 police abducted during a violent attack on a police station in Chowk Yateem Khana neighbourhood in Lahore.

Photographs of the police officers, with their heads, legs and arms heavily bandaged, were posted on social media by their captors.

“We believe in negotiations and reconciliation to sort out issues,” Religious Affairs Minister Qadri told the NA on Monday evening.

Most main businesses, markets, shopping malls and public transport services were closed in major cities in response to a strike call by the group and Mufti Muneebur Rehman — a former Ruet-e-Hilal Committee (RHC) chairman who was removed in December following a 23-year-long stint.

The violence erupted after the government detained TLP leader Saad Hussain Rizvi on Monday last week ahead of a planned countrywide anti-France campaign to pressure the government to expel Baréty in response to the publication of blasphemous cartoons.

PPP BOYCOTTS SESSION:

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had announced earlier today that it would not participate in the NA session.

In a tweet, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for “want[ing] to hide behind” the House despite not taking it into confidence at any stage of the events.

“Agreement (with the TLP) wasn’t brought to NA, Govt took action on streets, then banned, people killed, over 500 policemen injured, closed internet, PM didn’t make statement in NA, didnt take NA into confidence at any stage,” he said.

“Now PTI wants to hide behind NA. It’s your mess PM, clean up or go home.”

In a statement, PPP Information Secretary Nafisa Shah said that the government had postponed the parliament’s session for two days but then “suddenly” called it. “Some [PPP] parliamentarians are not present in Islamabad. At this time, the decision has been taken that PPP will not take part in the session,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held a meeting of its parliamentary party in the office of its president and NA Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif to discuss the prevailing situation in the country, its central spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a statement.

WHAT DOES THE TLP WANT:

The group has presented four main demands in the talks with the government, officials from both sides said.

They included the expulsion of the French ambassador, the release of the TLP leader and around 1,400 arrested workers, lifting the ban on the group and the dismissal of the Minister of Interior.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that expelling the French ambassador would only cause damage to Pakistan, and diplomatic engagement between the Muslim world and the West was the only way to resolve disputes.

“When we send the French ambassador back and break relations with them it means we break relations with the European Union (EU),” he said in a televised address to the nation. “Half our textile exports go to the EU, so half our textile exports would be gone.”

The prime minister also vowed he would work with other Muslim countries to stop the publication of blasphemous content in the future. But he said it was unfortunate that political and religious parties in Pakistan “exploited” Islam at the expense of their own country.

The West, he observed, would not mind if Pakistanis continued their infighting.

Relations between Paris and Islamabad have worsened since the end of last year after President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher, Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin for showing blasphemous caricatures of Holy Prophet (PBUH) in a class on freedom of speech.

Protests erupted in several Muslim countries over Paris’ response to the killing. The blasphemous caricatures were reprinted elsewhere as well.

At the time, Islamabad purportedly signed a deal with the TLP agreeing to present a resolution in the NA by April 20 to seek approval for the expulsion of the French ambassador and to endorse a boycott of French products.

With additional input from Reuters, AP