ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Friday suspended the membership of two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers for the current session for “eroding the sanctity” of the assembly by “indulging in rowdy behaviour” during President Asif Zardari’s address to the joint sitting of parliament on April 18.

The speaker read out his ruling regarding the suspension of MNAs Jamshaid Dasti from Muzaffargarh and Muhammad Iqbal Khan from Khyber after seeking approval of the house on a motion through a voice vote minutes before the culmination of an eventful sitting, marred by separate protests by members of the opposition PTI, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on different issues.

The house also witnessed two token walkouts and as many failed attempts to disrupt the proceedings by pointing out the lack of quorum.

The PTI and PPP members staged token walkouts as a mark of protest when the speaker did not give them the floor to respond to each other on the issue of the president’s address, whereas the JUI-F lawmakers protested against the speaker’s act of administering the oath to Sadaf Ihsan, who had been declared the winner by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on a reserved seat for women from KP on the JUI-F ticket.

Dasti, Iqbal barred from current session; action taken for misconduct during president’s address; NA witnesses two walkouts as opposition members continue noisy protest

Speaking on a point of order soon after the oath, JUI-F’s Noor Alam Khan termed the speaker’s act “illegal and unconstitutional”, stating that a case was pending before a court of law and party chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman had already informed the ECP that Ms Ihsan had not been issued the ticket.

As a mark of protest, he pointed out the lack of quorum, but the speaker declared the house in order after a headcount.

MNAs’ suspension

Before reading out his ruling, the speaker stated that he had been forced to take action against the two MNAs when they crossed “all the limits” and that he was doing so with a “painful heart.”

Mr Sadiq announced that the two MNAs “be suspended from the services of the assembly for remainder of the session” and asked them “to forthwith withdraw the precincts of the assembly”.

“I had been showing patience, but today I will not do it,” said the speaker when the PTI members lodged noisy protest when he didn’t give floor to PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan. However, later, he gave the floor to Mr Khan, who said that his party did not consider Mr Zardari a legitimate president.

Walkouts

PPP members, led by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, staged a walkout when Mr Khan lashed out at Mr Zardari for keeping the office of the party’s president, declaring that he did not represent the federation.

MNA Sharmila Farooqui was given the floor by the speaker to respond to the PTI chairman, but as soon as she took the floor, Mr Bhutto-Zardari with his sister Aseefa, started walking out of the assembly. At this point, PPP’s Shazia Marri pointed out lack of quorum to compel the speaker to adjourn the sitting.

Playing intelligently, the PTI members, who had already been protesting against the speaker for not giving them the floor, also staged a walkout to compel the speaker to adjourn the sitting without giving his ruling to suspend the two party MNAs.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar then went to the PPP members and succeeded in bringing them back to the house. Seeing the PPP members returning, the PTI members also came back and started raising slogans. The speaker declared the house in order and subsequently gave his ruling.

There was a rumpus in the house due to noisy protest by the PTI members when Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, on a point of order, started lambasting the opposition benches and targeted former prime minister Imran Khan.

Criticising the PTI members for “hooliganism” during the joint sitting and in the presence of diplomats, the minister said Imran Khan had been jeopardising the country’s foreign interests by issuing directives from Adiala Jail.

Security situation

Responding to a calling attention notice regarding the recent terrorist attack on a bus in Noshki, Balochistan, and Kashmore in Sindh, where an operation against the robbers was underway, Law Minister Tarar said the federal government was providing full assistance to the provincial governments to deal with the security situation.

The NA will reconvene on Monday evening.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2024