Farrukh condemns opposition’s unparliamentary attitude in NA

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib Wednesday condemned the un-parliamentary attitude of the opposition it showed in the National Assembly with the full support of their leadership, terming it ‘unfortunate.’
Talking to media outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Head Office, he said, “It is unfortunate that opposition leadership is supervising and backing the whole episode of un-parliamentary behaviour in one of the supreme forums of the country, which represents 220 million people”.
Sharing a medical report of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Maleeka Bukhari’s injury in the national assembly, he said her left eye cornea had affected in the opposition’s attack.
The minister said, as per the doctor’s report Maleekka Bukhari was attacked by the opposition due to which her left eye cornea had injured.
He said what people they [opposition] were, including their entire leadership, who promoted such attacks and norms. “Even they do not care about the dignity and sanctity of women,” he regretted.
Farrukh said that it could be seen in the video footage that the opposition members gathered in front of the treasury benches and used extremely abusive words, and they targeted women lawmakers.
He was of the view that Maleekka Bukhari was targeted by the opposition members and she was hit with a budget book, which badly affected her eye.
He said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was the ‘architect’ of the rumpus in the National Assembly on the order of Maryum Safdar.
It was Abbasi, who despite being a former prime minister, instigated the PML-N Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) to abuse the treasury benches, and resultantly the House embroiled in verbal exchanges and brawl, he remarked.
“If Maryam Safdar group did not want to listen to the speech of Shehbaz Sharif [leader of opposition in the NA), they would have walked out of the House and would not have made a fuss,” he added.
He said that PML-N leadership and its members had a history of doing such an interruption and attacks, as they had attacked the Supreme Court and pelted stones on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office.
The minister said the PML-N had produced “Gullu Butts,” who attacked the PTI meeting in Faisalabad and at the home of Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
The minister said that the government had approached the opposition time and again for reconciliation and ensuring smooth conduct of the parliamentary proceeding, but did not get any serious response from them.
Farrukh recalled that the opposition had not allowed Prime Minister Imran Khan to speak in the House after he took the vote for the leader of the House [National Assembly].
He said that the PTI government had passed 110 laws in the National Assembly and there were still dozens of such laws which were pending in the House due to opposition’s non-serious attitude.
“The opposition does not want to debate on the bills, preferred boycott instead of debate in the house, they are taking TA-DA [Travel & Daily Allowances], salaries from the assemblies but had no interest in the legislation that was beneficial for the country and the nation,” he added.
He asked the speaker of the National Assembly to ink an agreement with the opposition in the written form, as they always backtracked from the agreements reached to run the House in a smooth way.
In response to a question, he said that technology was being used to ensure transparent elections, adding the electronic voting system was prevalent in many countries of the world. About his visit to the ECP Head Office, the minister said that a petition had been filed for early decision on scrutiny of political parties’ funds.
The scrutiny committee neither summoned the PPP nor the PML-N, he added.
He said that the record presented in the last hearing of the ECP proved that the accounts submitted by the PML-N and the PPP were fake, adding in the party funds’ scrutiny case, PPP and PML-N had not submitted any record to-date.
He asked the ECP to decide the case as soon as possible. “We request the scrutiny committee to look into the matter with the help of a chartered accountant,” he said.
To a question, he said, that the ECP was a constitutional body for which the PTI had great respect but it was bound to conduct elections in line with the Act of Parliament. He said that the act of Parliament had been passed by the National Assembly and was pending with the Senate for passage.