PTI returns to parliament with noisy protest

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senators and lawmakers ended their year-long boycott and returned to the joint sitting of parliament on Monday, disrupting the proceedings with their noisy protest.

The Senate opposition leader and Minister for Communications, Asad Mehmood, accused each other of causing chaos in the country. PTI senators Waleed Iqbal, Fawzia Arshad, and Saifullah Abro were the most active in leading the protest, carrying placards with anti-government slogans.

The PTI senators gathered in front of the speaker’s dais and raised slogans when Mehmood named the sons of PTI chief Imran Khan in his speech, asking Khan to bring them to the country and enroll them in a Madressah.

In their speeches dominated by political rhetoric, the Opposition Leader in the Senate, Dr. Shahzad Waseem of PTI and Mr. Mehmood accused each other of violating the Constitution and causing chaos in the country.

Despite Waseem lashing out at the government for allegedly running away from the Constitution and politically victimizing the PTI, he stressed the need for political unity. He called for sitting together to find a way out of the crisis. Meanwhile, Mehmood hit the judiciary and accused it of becoming a party in the political confrontation.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was seen struggling to run the house smoothly as members from both sides continued sloganeering against each other despite warnings from the chair. The speaker warned the opposition senators that they might also not be allowed to speak if they continued interrupting Mehmood’s speech.

The speaker also made an indirect “request” to allow PTI MNAs to return to the house after the party decides to withdraw their en masse resignations.

Despite the adjournment of the joint sitting till April 10, Dr. Waseem portrayed a dismal picture of the state of media freedom in the country, alleging that journalists were being booked on terrorism charges and tortured for exposing the wrong policies of rulers.

The issue of non-payment of salaries to journalists was referred to the concerned house committee. During the National Assembly session, the coalition government also faced embarrassment when treasury members, including two federal ministers from erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), staged a token walkout from the house over the non-release of promised development funds for the region.