ISLAMABAD: A subdued opposition held a brief protest in the National Assembly on Thursday over the recent increase in oil prices and non-issuance of production orders for arrested members as Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari left the house soon after start of the question hour to discuss the situation following their shocking defeat in the Senate.

Speaking on a point of order during a dull sitting of the lower house, PPP’s parliamentary leader Syed Naveed Qamar drew the attention of the house towards the government’s decision to raise petroleum prices, saying the move would put further burden on an already suffering populace.

Mr Qamar claimed that the government had increased the rates at a time when prices were falling in the international market.

He then raised the matter of non-issuance of production orders for six arrested legislators, including former president Asif Ali Zardari. He said it was unprecedented in parliamentary history that six of its members were behind bars at the same time.

Besides Mr Zardari, the other opposition lawmakers under detention are former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique and Rana Sanaullah as well as two independent MNAs from Waziristan, Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir.

The criticism of the speaker by the PPP lawmaker from Hyderabad for not issuing the production orders angered Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was presiding over the sitting at the time. He ordered that Mr Qamar’s mike be switched off after he alleged the speaker was not issuing production orders under pressure from the government.

Replying to the allegation, Mr Suri said Asad Qaiser, the speaker, was not under any pressure from the government, declaring that he would not submit to “pressure from the opposition” either.

Citing the rules, Mr Suri said the speaker would make a decision strictly in accordance with merit.

When the deputy speaker was admonishing Mr Qamar, a number of PPP women members carrying placards inscribed with demands for issuance of production orders gathered in front of his dais and started raising slogans. However, the women members went back to their seats as their colleagues remained seated.

The PPP came under attack from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) over the collapse of drainage system in Karachi after the recent rains and deaths from electrocution. The MQM’s Aminul Haq blamed the PPP-led Sindh government for the 25 deaths in Karachi. He called for paying compensation to the victims’ families and for an investigation to fix responsibility.

Mr Haq laid into the K-Electric for its failure to maintain regular power supply in Karachi during rains. He called the organisation “a state within the state” and proposed the formation of a committee to probe its affairs. “Today there is no one to own Karachi.”

When PPP’s Naveed Qamar objected to the MQM MNA’s speech, the federal Minister for Energy, Omar Ayub Khan, took the floor and launched a tirade on the PPP, saying that Sindh was facing the present situation due to “massive corruption” by the party’s leaders.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2019