Members of the government and opposition benches in the National Assembly yesterday came face-to-face, insulted each other, threw the budget book at each other faces, and caused a lot of disturbance during the Budget speech. The question is who is responsible for all these problems?
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has ordered an inquiry into the incident and the real culprit will be identified only after an investigation. However, according to media reports, the fight took place between PML-N National Assembly members and PTI members.
PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif started his speech criticizing the budget during which some members made a lot of noise. From the verbal abuse to getting aggressively physical with each other, members took no time to start thrashing each other faces with the budget book.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser kept urging the members to end the fight with patience, but it did not have any effect on the members, the budget copies of the budget were literally used as a weapon in the National Assembly.
According to media reports, Ali Nawaz, Ali Amin, Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Saif-ur-Rehman and Faheem Khan were at the forefront of the fight. Defense Minister Pervez Khattak is also accused of taking part in the fighting. Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif will also receive a copy of the budget during the fighting. National Assembly official, PTI member Maleeka Bokhari’s eye and Faheem Khan’s hand were injured in the fight.
On the other hand, Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the fight started with the slogans of PML-N member Ali Gohar Baloch. PML-N MLAs disregarded all parliamentary values and used abusive language.
Fawad Chaudhry said that the young members of the National Assembly became aggressive after the immoral talk. If the opposition allows the government to speak in the House, they are able to speak for themselves, according to Chaudhry.
Minister of State Farrukh Habib has said that at the request of former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, PML-N members came down on verbal abuse. Faheem Khan says that PML-N members abused him in the presence of women whose attack injured his hand.
Opposition leaders say the government has violated parliamentary traditions and values. The whole nation has seen his behaviour. Speaker Asad Qaiser has called for footage of the riot. Responsible members are likely to be barred from entering the House today.