Members of the National Assembly from the ruling party have demanded an apology from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmakers on Wednesday due to the ruckus created in the lower house the previous day.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, without naming anyone, also condemned the lawmakers for disrespecting women.
Expressing similar views, Parliamentary Secretary for Law Maleeka Bokhari – who was struck in the eye during the session – said yesterday’s incident in the NA had raised concerns among women and girls in Pakistan.
“They are witness to how a parliamentarian … who is the parliamentary secretary for law and legislates for the protection of their rights, even she was attacked in this august House (NA), which itself was desecrated,” she said during a joint press conference in Islamabad today alongside Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul and other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers.
“We will [fight back] with arguments substantiated with facts and logic,” she asserted. “This is what our leader has taught us — that the women of Pakistan can present their stance with grace while representing 50 percent of the country’s population [in parliament].”
She added that while she was pained and disappointed at what had transpired in the lower House of parliament, she was not surprised.
Bokhari recalled that it was the same party that had attacked the Supreme Court, unarmed women in Model Town, disrespected former premier Benazir Bhutto and had been subjecting PTI’s women lawmakers to ridicule.
“Is this how we want to run this parliament?” she asked. “Your [PML-N’s] oppressive behaviour was exposed yesterday. You crossed all limits.”
Bokhari went on to say that the PML-N and Pakistan People’s Party had been in power in the country for decades and now that a third party was in the government with a different stance, it was intolerable for the PML-N.
“It is not just you who is a part of this democracy. We are a part of it as well. Our stance and words hold value as well.”
She urged PML-N members to listen to others’ stance with patience and tolerance, adding that treasury bench members also had the right to speak.
Saying that women did not feel safe in Pakistan, Bokhari urged the leadership of political parties to sit together and address the issue in the NA session scheduled for Wednesday and said the previous days incident was “shameful”.
“Draw the line so that no woman, inside and outside parliament, has to face humiliation in the future.”
At the outset of the press conference, Gul also said that PML-N lawmakers misbehaved and attacked women in parliament on the instructions of Nawaz. She added that it had been a tradition in the PML-N to award high posts to members who misbehaved with women.
She particularly named Ali Gohar Baloch of the PML-N, further claiming that the party’s misbehaviour stemmed from their frustration over no women members from the PML-N being capable enough of contesting even the elections for councillors. Besides, the minister said the opposition not being able to find any faults in the budget added to their frustration.
Gul went on to say that the PML-N could not tolerate the presence of the PTI and women in mainstream politics and that it had turned into a party of “dacoits” and hooligans”.
“But we, women, and the people of Pakistan will not put up with this [behaviour].”
The minister called for the suspension of PML-N lawmakers who misbehaved with women in parliament the previous day and demanded an apology.
She pointed out that if women would continue to face verbal and physical attacks, abuse and character assassination, no respectable woman would want to be a part of parliament.
“Do not close the doors of politics for the coming generations,” she appealed.
Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Secretary Munaza Hassan also termed the misbehaviour with women in parliament “shameful” and “embarrassing”.
“Targeting and attacking women is shameful,” she said, adding that she condemned such behaviour and that all women must be respected whether they were from the opposition of treasury benches.
She, too, urged the leadership of political parties to sit together and address the issue.
Moreover, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill Wednesday strongly condemned the PML-N lawmaker’s remarks on the culture of Punjab province.
In a reaction video over PML-N MNA Sheikh Rohale Asghar’s remarks that “using abusive language is the culture of Punjab”, he said such people were using abusive language against their political opponents only for political gains.
He said it was not the culture of Punjab at all as Punjab was the land of Sufi saints like Baba Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah.
He said the culture of Punjab was peace and love. He said the PML-N lawmaker should feel ashamed of his remarks and should not defame the whole Punjabi culture.
Furthermore, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has banned the entry of seven lawmakers into the Parliament House over the use of foul language during the budget speech of Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif.
The order released by the NA speaker stated that on June 14 and 15, 2021, during the speech of the Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif on the budget 2021-22, the conduct of seven lawmakers was grossly disorderly as they violated the rules despite the directions by the chair.
The MNAs that have been banned are Ali Gohar Khan, Chaudhry Hamid Hameed, Sheikh Rohale Asghar, Faheem Khan, Abdul Majeed Khan, Ali Nawaz Awan and Syed Agha Rafiullah.
“These members are required not to enter into the precincts of the Parliament House till further orders,” the order read.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed Speaker Qaiser to act as per law and constitution in a matter relating to rumpus during the National Assembly session on Tuesday.
It is pertinent to mention here that the lower house of the Parliament descended into chaos on Tuesday after the treasury and opposition members come to blows during Shehbaz Sharif’s speech.
As soon as the PML-N president had started speech during post-budget 2021-22 NA session, the government and opposition lawmakers came face-to-face.
SAPM Ali Nawaz Awan and PML-N MNA Rohale Asghar had exchanged heated words during the NA session.
The opposition in the NA has said that the silence of the leader of the house on the events in the National Assembly shows that these events could have not taken place without his consent.
This was said in a letter signed by the opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and other parliamentary party leaders of the opposition.
The letter also says that now the decision which is taken on the issue by the National Assembly speaker will either restore the dignity of the parliament and the speaker or destroy them forever.
The action against the 7 MNAs announced in the media does not come close to recognizing the gravity of the events and in violations of the rules and not acceptable. Unless the speaker decides the perpetrators of these events first, the opposition cannot have any confidence of impartiality or the ability of the speaker to run the House according to parliamentary norms and traditions, the letter reads.
The letter recounts all the events which took place on 15 June during the speech of the Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif while opening the debate on the budget. The letter says that the speaker turned a blind eye to the events and aggression displayed by the MNAs of the treasury benches.
It is the first incident probably in parliamentary history in the world that the treasury benches defied the speaker and physically attacked the opposition. The speaker remained silent on this violence and turned a blind eye to the abuse of the opposition.
with additional input from INP and APP
