PESHAWAR: Uproar and disorder was witnessed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly when the opposition parties protested the repeated threat of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan to dissolve the provincial assembly over the alleged election rigging.

Also, the opposition lawmakers, including Nighat Yasmeen Orakzai of Pakistan People’s Party and Raja Faisal Zaman of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, submitted a joint privilege motion to the assembly secretariat against the PTI chief for breaching the privilege of the house by issuing an undemocratic, unconstitutional and immature statement.

They later staged a walkout.

In an interview, the PTI chief had warned for the third time that he would dissolve the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly if his repeated demand for investigation into the alleged election rigging in four Punjab constituencies was not met.

Also during the session, the house passed the Rs16.36 billion supplementary budget for financial year 2014-15 amid uproar.

Submits privilege motion against PTI chief, stages walkout

Speaking on a point of order, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl member Munawar Khan said the PTI chief had repeated his threat to dissolve the provincial assembly to pressure the federal government. He later announced a walkout to lodge the protest against the threat. Other opposition lawmakers followed suit.

Provincial ministers Shah Farman, Mohammad Atif Khan, Ali Amin Gandapur and several MPAs of the ruling party, PTI, went to the opposition lobby to persuade them to end the boycott.

Later, the opposition members returned to the house.

Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said he wondered why Imran Khan was linking the alleged rigging in the last general elections to the dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

“The threat of Imran Khan is non-serious and undemocratic,” he said.

The opposition leader asked Imran Khan why he didn’t ask his party members to resign from the National and Punjab assemblies to protest the alleged election rigging.

Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan People’s Party said the repeated threat of Imran Khan to dissolve the provincial assembly was actually the disrespect of the people’s mandate given to their elected representatives.

“Imran Khan should show maturity,” she said. Talking to Dawn about her privilege motion, she said Imran Khan’s thinking was childish.

“Mr Khan has joked with the elected representatives of the province by issuing the assembly dissolution threat. He’s also breached the privilege of the members of the august elected house,” she said.

On a point of order, Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of PML-N told the house that the PTI chief had been harming democracy instead of strengthening it.

“Imran Khan should go to the Supreme Court and other institutions for justice over the alleged election rigging instead of targeting the provincial assembly,” he said.

PTI’s Shaukat Yousufzai took the floor in a bid to pacify the angry opposition and clarify his party position on the matter.

However, the opposition members became angry, rose up from their seats shouting against Imran Khan and gesturing Shaukat Yousafzai to sit down when he insisted Imran Khan had been working for democracy in the country for 18 long years.

Shaukat Yousufzai, who had put his party in trouble several times in the past by ‘reckless’ statements, resumed his seat at the request of Speaker Asad Qaisar.

Later, elementary and secondary education minister Mohammad Atif Khan said he would convey the lawmakers’ concerns to his party chief (Imran Khan) over the assembly dissolution threat.

“I assure all of you that PTI will never harm democracy as it believes even the worst kind of democracy is better than the best kind of dictatorship,” he said.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak painted a bleak picture of the health department’s performance, saying things at the department continued to be pathetic during the first year of the PTI government. Gesturing to health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, he said: “I can’t wait any longer as by and large, government hospitals in the province are unclean and don’t care for patients.”

The chief minister said he was shocked to know there was no record of machineries and other equipment in hospitals.

He said the development of a monitoring system for hospitals was underway and that the system would also help collect information about every thing, including staff.

The speaker later prorogued the session.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2014