ISLAMABAD, April 5: The combined opposition on Monday staged a token walkout from the National Assembly to protest against the speaker for not issuing production orders of Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in the house.
Soon after the question hour, Liaquat Baloch of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), speaking on a point of order, asked the speaker to issue the production orders of Mr Hashmi before starting a general debate on the National Security Council (NSC) bill.
The MMA leader said Mr Hashmi was a seasoned parliamentarian and his presence was necessary in the assembly at the time of presentation of the NSC bill. He said Mr Hashmi, ARD president, had been put behind the bars on the basis of "baseless" charges.
Mr Baloch asked the speaker to fulfil his responsibility by issuing the production orders. Whether the government would implement his (speaker's) orders or not, it would not be the responsibility of the speaker.
He claimed that the government was using the speaker's shoulder in this case. Acting parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said that in the advisory body meeting, it had been decided that the speaker would take steps in this direction. However, he regretted that no production orders had been issued yet.
People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf said that in the past, speakers had been issuing production orders, and he should also do the same.
During speeches, several members of the PML-N brought out huge portraits of Mr Hashmi and raised slogans against the government. The speaker asked the members not to disturb the house decorum as carrying portraits in the assembly was not allowed under the rules.
The speaker gave the floor to Dr Sher Afgan of the Patriots to explain the rules. When Dr Sher Afgan was speaking, opposition members belonging to the ARD, MMA and the PkMAP, staged a walkout raising slogans against him. They later returned to their respective seats during the speech of Dr Afgan, who asked the speaker not to issue the production orders of Mr Hashmi as it would set a wrong precedence.
