PESHAWAR: A slang expression over a cut motion triggered scuffle and exchange of abusive language among lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and senior ministers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday.

The trouble started in the house when PTI MPA Babar Saleem presented the ‘Rs420’ cut motion on a demand for grant for the department of science technology and information technology.

The word ‘420’ is used in Urdu for defrauding. In the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 420 pertains to fraud, cheating and dishonesty.

Rival lawmakers trade abuses in presence of women colleagues

Before withdrawing his cut motion, the MPA said he specifically used this word for science and technology minister Shahram Tarakai.

His remarks irritated minister Shahram and his uncle, Mohammad Ali, who both rose from their chair in an attempt to attack Babar Saleem.

Earlier, Shahram in his speech jeered at the MPA between the lines, reminding the house that some people often forgot about their status.

Lawmakers from the treasury and opposition benches were trying to stop them from fighting when minister for elementary and secondary education Atif Khan, who is related to Tarakai family, came from the rare side and slapped Saleem hard on the back.

The rival MPAs were hurling abusive words at each other as female lawmakers watched the unruly scenes.

The house was looking like a wrestling arena. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak remained a silent spectator ‘enjoying’ the unruly situation.

It was also a ‘day of expunge’ in the assembly.

Speaker Asad Qaisar ordered on three occasions to expunge the un-parliamentary words from the record.

The chair shouted, “Please sit down,” but nobody paid attention.

The lawmakers questioned the neutrality of the chair when he stopped lawmakers from debate on cut motions and unnecessary interruption.

It was a bad day for Pervez Khattak and his ministers. His own lawmakers taunted him for unequal allocations in the ADP.

The chief minister and his ministers continued to draw the ire of their own lawmakers on what they described unjust and unequal allocations in the budget and wrong policies of the government.

When the sitting started, the speaker gave the floor to PTI MPA from Nowshera Qurban Ali Khan, who came down heavily on his own government.

His speech was very concise as he spoke like the opposition leader.

the ruling party MPAs didn’t tolerate Qurban Khan’s criticism and demanded that the speaker switch off his mic, but he continued his onslaught.

“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is not changing; it is drowning,” he remarked when he took the floor to speak about the annual budget before winding up the speech of finance minister Muzafar Said.

He said the PTI’s ideology was justice, accountability and utilisation of development funds through local governments. But the government was distributing funds through a particular group which was not ultimate objective of PTI, he added.

He said ideology of PTI had been given up and nothing had changed in the province as the government was obtaining loans on mark-up which was a matter of great concern.

“Please don’t defame Maulana Maududi and Qazi Hussain Ahmad,” he said while addressing MPAs of Jamaat-i-Islami, which is a coalition partner of the ruling PTI.

“Civilisations have collapsed because of a lack of accountability and injustice and every institution will die without accountability,” remarked Qurban Khan.

Independent MPA Jamshid Khan Mohmand, who is a government ally, also opened tirade against the chief minister and his cabinet for discrimination in the allocation of funds for development schemes.

He said the chief minister had sanctioned Rs410.5 million for the PK-30 constituency on June 1 to appease his minister, Mohammad Atif.

The minister is also considered a close lieutenant of PTI chairman Imran Khan.

Showing a notification in the house, the MPA said Pervez Khattak had sanctioned more than Rs410 million for a single constituency because of the minister.

“My constituency also exists in Mardan District where human beings live, but not a single scheme has been sanctioned,” he lamented, adding that a party which bagged votes in the name of justice was doing injustice.

Earlier winding up speech on the budget for year 2016-17, minister finance Muzafar Said denied that only few constituencies or districts had received major share from the ADP.

He said Dera Ismail Khan, which is home town of opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman had been allocated Rs2.27 billion for development schemes in the proposed ADP.

He said the government did not levy additional taxes in the budget.

Lawmakers started debate on demands for grants for different departments. Only three demands for grants were approved as opposition and disgruntled MPAs of the ruling party criticised policies of the government. The sitting was adjourned till Wednesday.

Before start of the PA session, the PTI parliamentary party held a meeting and the chief minister assured the lawmakers of equitable distribution of development schemes. However, five disgruntled MPAs boycotted the meeting.

Published in Dawn, June 22th, 2016