No substantive budget debate in NA as ruckus continues

ISLAMABAD: The proceedings of National Assembly were disrupted for the third consecutive day during the budget session Tuesday after opposition lawmakers gathered around dais of the Speaker and kept chanting slogans against the government.

Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri gave floor to Leader of Opposition Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif to speak on federal budget 2019-20 following which the treasury lawmakers demanded that he should use decent language during his speech.

The PML-N lawmakers got infuriated over this interruption of treasury members and surrounded the deputy speaker. Following their protest, the Chair suspended the House for 20 minutes at 5:34 p.m. after repeated requests that members should maintain order in the House.

Earlier, Shehbaz Sharif objected over expunging of some words from his speech made on Monday.

The deputy speaker said he was custodian of the House and could not allow any member to use non-parliamentary words.

The leader of the opposition highlighted achievements of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government during its five-year term from 2013-2018.

Later, the sitting resumed after around two-hour suspension at 7: 33 pm.

The deputy speaker said representatives of both opposition and treasury benches had agreed to run business of the House in a democratic way and congenial atmosphere.

He said there was a need to promote culture of tolerance and politeness, hoping that all the members would play their role in smooth conduct of the House proceedings.

Senior leader of PPP Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the Parliament was the representative of 220 million people of the country and its sanctity must be ensured.

In democracy, he said, there was a defined role for both opposition and treasury benches.

He said opposition was meant to criticize the government policies and it (the government) should face the criticism with patience.

Raja Pervaiz said sanctity of the House come under question when the proceedings were hindered by treasury lawmakers.

He said the speaker was considered custodian of the House and he should not take dictation from anyone.

He was of the view that the speaker should ensure presence of all arrested members in the budget session so that they could give their point of view on the fiscal plan, enabling them to address concerns of people of their respective constituencies.

Quoting rule 108 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly 2007, he said it talked about presence of all ‘members on the roll’ in the budget session.

Accordingly, he asked the Chair to issue production orders for all arrested members of the National Assembly.

He said former president Asif Ali Zardari was detained at 1.5-minute distance from the Parliament House and he must be in House for the budget session.

Raja Pervaiz said Asif Zardari being President of Pakistan had voluntarily surrendered his powers to the Parliament.

Later, the deputy speaker adjourned the House to meet against on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.