Once again, the Senate saw hullabaloo on Wednesday following verbal clashes between the treasury and opposition benches before the chairman Senate had to abruptly adjourn the session amidst an ever-charged hostility between both the sides.
Shortly after the House proceedings started, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani gave the floor to opposition's Bahramand Tangi from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to share his views on the draft Finance Bill 2019.
However, Atta Ur Rehman from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) interrupted Tangi's speech, asking the chairman Senate that he should be allowed to complete his speech pending since Tuesday last, but the chairman refused, saying that Atta would be allowed to speak after Tangi.
It merits mentioning here that earlier on Tuesday, Atta Ur Rehman, during his speech in the Senate, had called out Prime Minister Imran Khan for his speech televised on June 11 midnight and alleged that the premier disrespected the Sahaba(RA) (Companions of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in the said speech. He called the PM 'jahil' (illiterate), saying that he has no knowledge of the religion. This had infuriated the senators from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) who took on Atta and the session was adjourned amidst furore.
On Wednesday, the session plunged into chaos again when Atta kept insisting that he be allowed to speak before Tangi while the treasury benches opposed this, asking the chairman Senate not to allow Atta to speak.
"I am a member of this House and it is my right to speak. My speech has been incomplete since yesterday (Tuesday). I will complete my speech, come what may," a furious Atta remarked.
The chairman assured Atta that he would be allowed to speak after Tangi's speech but Atta refused to listen to the chair. The matter was finally resolved when Leader of the Opposition in Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq put his weight behind the chairman Senate and urged Atta to speak after Senator Tangi.
Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz said that the treasury benches would not interrupt Atta's speech if he assures that he would not incite religious hatred in his speech. On behalf of Atta, the chairman Senate assured the treasury benches that Atta's speech would focus solely on the federal budget.
The House proceedings were back to normalcy during Bahramand Tangi's speech on new federal budget, but as soon as he concluded his speech and Atta was allowed to share views, things were back to square one.
Refusing to mend his ways, Atta once again called the PM "illiterate, incompetent and selected," which drew ire of the treasury benches.
"The madman is back. Mr Chairman- please- have him thrown out," remarked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Swati.
PTI's female Senator Professor Dr Mehr Taj Roghani strongly criticised Atta and shouted slogans against him. He then went to the seat of Shibli Faraz and pulled his arm, asking him to stand up and play his role as Leader of the House against Atta's repeated remarks against the PM.
"He is such a nonsense person. This man is spitting venom to incite hatred in the name of religion," Shibli said of Atta's speech. He then slammed the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leaders for sitting silent on Atta's speech. "This man (Atta) is talking sheer nonsense and our colleagues from the PML-N and PPP are sitting silent instead of having him stopped. This is criminal negligence on their part," he said.
PML-N's Mushahid Ullah Khan, in his response to Shibli's remarks, sided with Atta. "It is the right of the every member of the House to express his/her views whether you like it or not. If you don't want ruckus in the House, let him share his opinions and don't stop him," he told Shibli.
Upon this, the leader of the House said that the treasury benches have no problem with anyone expressing his/her views but these views should be within the limits of decency and ethics. "Senator Bahramand Tangi delivered such an inflammatory speech against our government. Did we react? No, we did not. We don't mind criticism but we do mind abusive language. Who is this man (Atta) to issue certificates of religion to anyone? We are far better Muslims than them. At least there is less contradiction between what we preach and practice as compared to them," he remarked.
Mushahid Ullah once again responded, "Instead of asking Maulana Atta Ur Rehman to stop, why don't you ask your Prime Minister not to get into things he knows nothing about? Why doesn't your Prime Minister learn to behave when it comes to public speaking? Why do you have to justify his shenanigans all the time?"
The PML-N senator's remarks further raised the temperature of an already ever-charged House. "We expected some sensibility from you but, no, you are pretty much like him (Atta). You are a catalyst. All you do is to add fuel to fire to further aggravate hostility. You are the representative of these religious fanatics who sell religion for personal publicity," Shibli told Mushahid Ullah as the chair kept on repeating "No crosstalk, no crosstalk."
The chairman Senate gave floor to Usman Kakar from Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) to share views on the federal budget but he was reluctant to speak amidst chaos.
PPP's Moula Bux Chandio then took the floor, urging both the sides to avoid saying such things that ignite controversies and conflicts. He strongly criticised the PTI government for its impatience towards opposition. "For God's sake, now leave the container-Allah will show you jail-we have already seen it-only then will you realise how important it is to show tolerance and acceptance in politics," he addressed the treasury benches.
As PTI's Faisal Javed stood up to protest Chandio's remarks, he kept asking Faisal, "Sit down baby. Sit down baby."
As the tensions between the government and treasury benches escalated, former Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and Chandio tried to cool down Atta but all in vain. Rabbani then went to treasury benches in a bid to pacify the angry senators but found himself in trouble when PTI's Nauman Wazir Khattak had a heated argument with Rabbani which prompted Rabbani to shout back at him. Khattak was unhappy over Rabbani's role in diffusing the tension. Dozens of senators from both the treasury and opposition benches gathered around Rabbani and Khattak while PPP's Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar kept demanding of the chair to throw Khattak out of the House. Sensing ever increased hostility between the two sides, the chairman summoned a group of sergeant-at-arms to maintain order in the House and adjourned the session till today (Thursday) 4:30pm.
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