PPP and opposition MPAs heap scornon each other

ANWAR KHAN

KARACHI: The ruling PPP on Wednesday has criticised the opposition than discussing its government’s fiscal budget 2018-19, even a legislator from treasury did not spare news media.

The budget session entered the third sitting with much more scornful verbal attacks by the ruling PPP’s legislators against the opposition parties, their leadership and even called the news media ‘who are you to judge us’. The house descended into tumulus by the opposition in protest against the treasury for speeches slandering their leadership.

Owais Qadir Shah, a PPP legislator, took an immediate aim at news media after exhausting his scorning speech against the opposition, pointed at the newsmen, covering assembly proceedings, ‘who are you to judge us’. He said that the news media runs reports on turning of the assembly into a ‘fish market’. He said that “no such thing has ever happened”. Earlier, he went on defending the fiscal budget enumerating the uplift schemes executed during his party’s rule over past 10 years.

Setting aside the budget debate, the treasury legislator also slammed the federal government for seeking proposals from political parties on naturalizing the stateless Bengalis and Afghans living in Sindh and elsewhere in Pakistan. “There are talks about giving citizenship to the foreigners. Khan sahib (Premier Imran Khan] even does not know how many foreigners are there,” he criticized.

He warned that the premier should not play with the sentiments of Sindhis, saying that whether Sindh is responsible to bear the burden of everyone coming to this territory. “Never do a thing that moving on streets will become difficult,” he also warned the opposition parties sitting in the house in a scornful tone.

Opposition took an exception to PPP’s woman lawmaker, Parveen Basheer Qaimkhani for calling PML-F’s Waryam Faqir – a scaring person that triggered protest by Nusrat Sehar Abbasi who came in front of the speaker’s dais. Deputy Speaker, Rehana Laghari despite asking Parveen to focus on budget, she ignored the ruling and waived her arms in the air saying, “if one word against my leadership is uttered, I will speak hundred against them”.

Another PPP’s female legislator, Naheed Ansari turned guns against the opposition, praising its party’s rule and blaming the Jatois for leaving Noshahro Feroze abandoned in the past. She slammed an opposition party without naming one for ‘destroying peace’ in Karachi and Hyderabad in the past, saying “how can you now talk about peace restoration in both the cities”. PPP’s Syed Zulfiqar Shah also focused on opposition parties’ leadership and leave no stone unturned to criticize them, mistaking that he was there to speak on budget.

He used word ‘selected’ for Prime Minister, Imran Khan, which unleashed PTI’s protest in the house, saying that there is a photo of Federal Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry currently circulating on social media showing “honey bees sitting with Fawad Chaudhry along honey and olive”. He also censured the MQM for its speaking out on budget, saying “their anger is mainly on losing business of extortion”.

He alleged the MQM for killing innocent people, army personnel and PPP activists. He also got slogans raised against the proposed Kala Bagh Dam construction. However, Rana Hamir Singh, a PPP minority legislator, cast suspension over his party’s development claims in Tharparkar, calling the controversial RO plants project a ‘drama’. “All the RO plants in Thar are dysfunctional,” he said, adding that the government should step up action against those responsible for the defected plants.

“Place me on a committee, I know a lot on RO plants,” he said, adding that inability and bad governance caused the RO plants to develop faults. He also requested his party’s government to provide the people of Thar with the rights to own their properties. “Why the people of Thar are not being given the rights to own their property,” he asked the PPP government, warning that “for the God’s sake, show mercy to people of Thar. If people of Thar are subjected to injustice, I will resign”.

MQM’s Ali Khursheedi criticized the PPP for a decaying infrastructure and poor amenities to public in its 10-year long rule, saying that “the ruling PPP in its 10-year term provided nothing more than drought and famine to the province”. He said that the ruling party cannot claim to show a single district it has developed in its decade long tenure as a model. “Unfortunately, it could not develop a single union council as model,” he added.

PTI’s legislator, Jamal Siddique said that the nearly 90 percent of the RO plants, which a single company had installed, have stalled but the government is unable to take action the ‘influential’ firm. MQM’s Nadeem Siddiqui criticized the PPP government for failing to introduce a one-window facility to industrialists in Sindh to develop the manufacturing sector. He said that the Punjab government has such a venue to develop its industrial zones.

GDA’s Ali Ghulam Nizamani said that unbecoming remarks uttered by the PPP’s woman lawmaker against Waryam Faqir has hurt their feelings, saying that “it should not have happened”.

He said that the PPP did win election through bribing the voters in the last general election. “Everyone knows that the PPP won not with votes but with [currency] notes,” he said, adding that the crime rate in Sanghar has grown with blue-eyed police officials appointments in his constituency. The house stands adjourned till Thursday morning.