ISLAMABAD: Still hurting from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s harsh remarks against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers in the first joint session of the Parliament, a bruised Shireen Mazari opened today’s session by posing a question to NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
"Can I ask you a question?" asked the PTI information secretary.
Sadiq promptly replied saying that Mazari cannot ask questions and only deliver a speech. “You can say whatever you wish to in your speech."
Mazari hastened to say, "I will deliver my speech but I want to ask something about language. I remember when we first used to partake in the assembly, norms were very strict and if someone used an inappropriate word, you would expunge and we would overlook it. Have standards changed? Will you expunge what the Defence Minister said?"
Undeterred by Mazari's tirade, Sadiq interjected to say that standards are still the same. "It is for me to decide what to expunge and what not to."
"I am wondering whether non-parliamentary language used against the leader of a major party will be expunged," said Mazari.
In a no-nonsense tone, Sadiq responded saying that if any derogatory word has been used, it will be expunged.
"I just wanted a clarification otherwise if it has become more liberal to use certain language now, then I guess it will apply to all of us," Mazari lamented.
Sadiq reassured her saying that "this is not D-Chowk", referring to the PTI's venue for anti-government protests last year in August during which much scorn was heaped on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whose government they called the outcome of a rigged election.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had lashed out at PTI lawmakers in the first joint session of the Parliament convened to debate Pakistan's possible role in the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen.
The PTI, which partook in the assembly after a seven-month boycott, faced the wrath of parliamentarians who criticised them for sitting in the Parliament after saying that it was constituted through rigged elections.
In what appeared to be a clear snub to the party which has been a thorn in the government’s side for quite some time, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif completely ignored the PTI’s return to parliament in his remarks on the floor of the house on Tuesday.
In a brief statement in the National Assembly on the second day of a joint session of both houses of parliament, the prime minister addressed lawmakers’ queries regarding the Saudi request for military support against Yemeni rebels.
He also thanked Aitzaz Ahsan and Khursheed Shah, the PPP leaders of the opposition in the Senate and National Assembly, respectively, as well as Senator Mushahid Hussain of the PML-Q, by name for actively participating in the special joint sitting of parliament. However, he conveniently glossed over PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was also on a front-row seat right next to the PPP leaders.
