LAHORE: The Panama panic continued to grip the Punjab Assembly for the second day running as the Opposition tried to make out a straight case of corruption on the basis of reports that scions of the Sharif family hold some offshore accounts.

Since the opposition had missed the opportunity to bring a resolution on Wednesday, it tried to make up for the loss on Thursday by forcing its version of resolution and did so by sheer ‘hijacking of the agenda’ which the chair refused.

As soon as the Question Hour ended and a few adjournment motions, mostly deferred, were dealt with, opposition leader Mahmoodur Rasheed stood up to force his “out-of-turn” motion and discussion on the issue. The refusal by the chair was quick and decisive but it was limited to taking the motion out of turn, not about the motion itself.

If the refusal was expected, so was the reaction from the opposition. All its members stood up on their seats in the next few seconds and yelled anti-Nawaz slogans at the top of their voices. Setting the decorum apart, Mahmoodur Rasheed led the sloganeering and the House descent into chaos.

The Opposition managed to bring placards inscribed with slogans in the House which otherwise lacked quorum but the lawmakers did not point it out for fear of losing the initiative. As the chair refused to budge, the opposition soon gathered in the area between their chairs and the Speaker’s rostrum and almost made the proceedings inaudible.

Saner voices such as Mian Aslam Iqbal were missing from the opposition side, allowing the sloganeering to dominate.

The Chair tried to take up the routine agenda of the budget proposals and Mumtaz Kahloon of the Treasury braved the slogans and somehow completed his speech which no one noticed or heard. Next turn happened to be of Khadija Umer of the Opposition, which by then was sitting on the floor and raising slogans. As soon her name was called, the opposition saw an opportunity to formalise their protest. She was soon on the mike telling the House: “So long as Nawaz League is in the government, no budget would work. The rulers must quit.”

The speaker kept interrupting to come back to the pre-budget proposals and she kept insisting that advising the PML-N government to quit was her budget proposal because “corrupt rulers cannot be allowed to write budget in any decent society.”

She was still speaking when both leader of the opposition and Rana Sanaullah left the House. The proceedings were adjourned for Friday morning.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2016