ISLAMABAD: Normality returned to the National Assembly on Monday when, unlike in the past, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq showed leniency and allowed opposition members to deliver speeches on the privilege motion against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly telling lies on the floor of the house about foreign assets owned by his family.

Apparently as a result of a behind-the-scenes understanding, the treasury members did not react to the opposition members’ speeches in which they criticised the prime minister for his alleged money laundering and corruption and accused him of committing breach of privilege by presenting wrong information on the floor of the house on the Panama Papers issue.

The government, which appeared to be on the defensive, had given the task of responding to the opposition’s speeches to the soft-spoken minister for states and frontier regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch.

But he could not do so as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) member Imran Khattak pointed out lack of quorum as soon as the chair gave the floor to the minister. Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi, who was presiding over the session at that time, had to adjourn the sitting till Tuesday after finding that the house was not in order as the required number of 86 members were not present in the 342-member house.

Sharif assailed for ‘money laundering, corruption’

The speaker had adjourned the proceedings on Friday without taking up any agenda item, declaring that the house would not conduct any business till a decision on the way forward was taken by the parliamentary leaders on the issue of a scuffle between the members of the PTI and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N). He did not disclose what understanding the government and the opposition had reached on the matter.

Mr Sadiq, who had said during the proceedings that he would conduct an inquiry into Thursday’s incident and that he had already sought video footage of the proceedings, did not utter a single word as to what would be his future course of action in this regard.

Instead, he said he would take action against the assembly secretariat staff for keeping him in the dark about cancellation of membership of PTI member Sheheryar Afridi by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over his failure to submit details of his assets.

The speaker said Mr Afridi, who had taken part in the brawl with the PML-N members, had told him that he had submitted details of his assets to the ECP on Nov 11 last year. Mr Sadiq said he had sought an explanation from the ECP which claimed that the lawmaker had submitted the documents last Friday.

The speaker said everyone was grieved over the incident and thanked the opposition for its “positive response”.

Soon after the question hour, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Syed Naveed Qamar took the floor and expressed sorrow over Thursday’s incident, saying the members had crossed “many red lines” that day.

He said he had never seen in his 28-year-long parliamentary career legislators abusing each other, making obscene gestures in the presence of women members and jumping over desks. “It was shameful,” he said, adding that in the past they had seen governments being sent packing over incidents of lesser intensity.

“Now is the time to determine red lines and say enough is enough,” Mr Qamar said. “Better sense will prevail for the remaining term of the assembly.” He asked the government to show magnanimity and take the opposition’s criticism in a positive way.

Qadir Baloch termed the incident “unfortunate” and said the prime minister had directed the PML-N members and the ministers not to cross red lines to bring political temperatures down. He expressed the hope that the opposition would also reciprocate in the same manner.

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed alleged in his hard-hitting speech that the Qatari prince had come to rescue of the Sharif family as part of a deal on the contract of liquid natural gas supply.

Tariq Bashir Cheema of the PML-Q, Shireen Mazari of the PTI and independent member Jamshed Dasti also accused the prime minister of making foreign assets through money laundering and corruption.

Mr Rashid alleged that the prime minister had failed to produce any documentary evidence in the court to prove that his daughter Maryam Nawaz was a trustee and not a beneficiary of the off-shore company in question as claimed by the Panama Papers.

He said the Sharifs were now “dragging their dead father” in the matter and it seemed that they wanted “a trial of graves.”

He said the Panamagate case would prove decisive for the country’s future. “It is a war between haves and haves not.”

In the past, he said, 16 members of National Assembly had been disqualified under Article 62 and 63 for minor crimes such as possessing two identity cards or having a joint bank account with a mosque. On the other hand, he alleged, the prime minister had committed perjury by presenting wrong information on the floor of the house.

He said the opposition would accept the court’s verdict, but advised Mr Sharif to resign even if he won the case as there were several capable persons in the PML-N who could become prime minister.

The opposition members also blamed the speaker for the brawl, saying he could have averted the situation had he acted independently and without seeking dictation from the treasury benches.

Naveed Qamar said the issue could be resolved only by the prime minister himself and he should come to the house to say that whatever he had stated in the house was “nothing but truth.”

Later, talking to Dawn, PTI parliamentary leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said there had been no understanding between the PTI and the speaker on the Thursday’s incident. He said taking action against the rogue members was the prerogative of the speaker.

However, he admitted that during a meeting with the speaker, the PTI had suggested that Qadir Baloch or Rana Tanveer should respond to their speeches instead of Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Khawaja Asif or Abid Sher Ali to lower tension in the house.

Published in Dawn January 31st, 2017