ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of the hooliganism by the members during the National Assembly session on Feb 4, Speaker Asad Qaiser on Monday decided to issue letters to three MNAs, including the one belonging to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), seeking an explanation over the incident.

According to a handout issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the speaker has decided to send letters to Syed Naveed Qamar of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Chaudhry Hamid Hameed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Attaullah of the PTI.

The decision was taken after the speaker presided over a meeting attended by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, the National Assembly secretary, adviser to the speaker on legal and constitutional affairs and other senior officers of the NA Secretariat to probe the incident.

At the onset, the speaker said the incident was “highly commendable”. He said that as the custodian of the National Assembly, he would take appropriate action to maintain the order in the House, and to regulate the proceedings in accordance with parliamentary practices and rules.

Says all members are under obligation to maintain decorum in the House

Mr Qaiser said all members belonging to the treasury or opposition benches were under obligation to obey the rules of the National Assembly and to maintain the decorum of the House in order to preserve its sanctity.

“The speaker after thorough examination of the record of proceedings and evidence showed his resolve to maintain the sanctity of the House at every cost without prejudice and pressure,” says the handout.

The NA Secretariat also released pictures of the opposition members protesting on the day. In one of the pictures, PPP’s Naveed Qamar has been shown making arguments with Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri in an aggressive manner and in the other picture, Hamid Hameed can be seen carrying a shoe in his hand and showing it towards the treasury benches.

The letters to the three members are being issued under Rule 21 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, under which the speaker has the power to suspend the membership of a lawmaker for the whole session.

Rule 21 says: “The Speaker may, if he deems it necessary, name a member who disregards the authority of the Speaker or abuses these rules by consistently and willfully obstructing the business of the Assembly. (2) If a member is so named by the Speaker, he shall forthwith put the question that the member (naming him) be suspended from the service of the Assembly for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session: Provided that the Assembly may, at any time, on a motion made, resolve that such suspension be terminated.”

When contacted, PML-N MNA from Sargodha Hamid Hameed said that he had not so far received any letter or notice from the speaker, but he had come to know about it through media.

Mr Hameed said the opposition would not accept any inquiry under the speaker who had become “partisan”. “We would demand formation of a parliamentary committee to probe the incident.”

In reply to a question, the PML-N MNA said that during the protest he was showing the shoe to Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry who was allegedly making objectionable gestures towards them. He said he would ask the speaker and the parliamentary committee to see the complete video footage of the sitting before making any decision and putting responsibility on any one.

The NA had witnessed unprecedented scenes during the session on Feb 4 when members from both sides of the aisle created ruckus and kept on shouting, sloganeering, naming, thumping desks, whistling, scuffling and even abusing each other almost continuously during more than three-hour long sitting during an inconclusive debate on the controversial constitution amendment bill seeking open Senate vote.

For quite some time, the deputy speaker was even forced to run the assembly proceedings while sitting amid a ring of sergeants after a brawl among the lawmakers in front of his dais where the opposition members had gathered to lodge protest against the chair for running the House one-sidedly and not giving them the floor.

The House witnessed a scuffle between the treasury and opposition members when two PTI MNAs from Karachi, Attaullah and Faheem Khan, rushed to the protesting opposition members who had besieged the deputy speaker. PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar, who is otherwise known for his politeness, was seen exchanging heated arguments with the deputy speaker when he gave the floor to Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umer after the two ministers had already spoken.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2021