LAHORE, Oct 30: The arrest of Javed Hashmi, leader of the PML-N and the ARD, rocked the Punjab Assembly on Thursday with the opposition making stinging attacks on the powers that be before staging a walkout and the treasury coming to a spirited defence of the institution of the army.

Rana Sanaullah, leader of the PML-N, took the floor on a point of order when the assembly proceedings started at 10.40am, to excoriate “a few generals who have hijacked the whole democratic process in the country”.

The case against Mr Hashmi only underscores the official nervousness, he said. When the end of any government nears, it either commits such blunders itself or is made to commit the same by invisible hands.

The letter, hitherto in possession of Mr Hashmi, would now be discussed the world over, bringing bad name to the entire army, Mr Rana said. It should either have been left alone or the writer(s) traced and taken to task.

The minister for cooperatives, Col Malik Muhammad Anwer (Retired), stood to answer Sana’s berating remarks against the army. Mr Hashmi should have handed over the letter to the speaker or the army for further action instead of going to the people. By doing so, he brought bad name to the “sacred institution of the armed forces of Pakistan”.

Qasim Zia, leader of the opposition, took the flour to continue Rana Sana’s speech. Condemning the arrest in unequivocal terms, Mr Zia said the opposition was not against the institution of the army but only against those who had held the entire democratic process hostage in the name of the army. The opposition had been fighting the case for institution-building. Which law the government is talking about? The law that could not protect the constitution or stop a general from becoming the president through referendum. It is a pity that the treasury benches are defending a president that they have not elected. There is hardly any dispute about law taking its due course, but it must do so for every one. A few should not be above the law and the rest under it. The government, he said, should realise that such cowardly attempts could not intimidate the opposition into abandoning its struggle for democracy.

Mr Zia provoked Minister for Communication and Works Chaudhry Zahirudin into defending the arrest. “All of us receive such letters on a daily basis, but these are better ignored instead of made public. One must remember that it is the army that we require for checking ghost schools and carrying out relief work during flood contingencies. Now the reputation of the same institution is besmirched by the opposition.”

Asghar Ali Gujar of the MMA was of the opinion that the hollow claims of democracy had been exposed by the arrest and the manner in which it was executed. Mr Hashmi was insulted during the arrest process, and this could not be justified under any law. He was even reportedly slapped by the agency that picked him up. No one realized that Mr Hashmi was an MNA, a leader of a party and the ARD.

Raja Basharat, provincial law minister, said the Punjab Assembly was not the proper forum to protest the arrest. Mr Hashmi is an MNA and the National Assembly is already in session, where the PML-N has a representation. It makes more sense not to create a crisis at the provincial level. The Pakistan army is a respected institution but the opposition has adopted a strange attitude towards it.

Mr Hashmi is an MNA, a political leader and above all a political worker. He should not have acted with so much irresponsibility. The charges include siding with India. The opposition would do better to let the law take its course, the minister said.

Capping the debate, Rana Sana said that no law in the world permitted physical violence against a person at the time of arrest. But those who went for the arrest of Mr Hashmi, slapped him with impunity. The FIR was lodged at 1am, two hours after the arrest. How one could justify the arrest before the FIR.