Speaker Punjab Assembly Parvez Elahi is continuously embarrassing his constitutional office, the House, democracy and the constitution the way he stopped the treasury from presenting the budget on Monday. We don’t find any example in the political history of the country or Punjab since the inception of this country in 1947.
The speaker has to be non-partisan and has to conduct the session by not taking sides be it treasury benches or opposition benches but unfortunately, a seasoned politician like Mr Elahi who has always been respected for his dignified politics for decades continues to misuse his office and play havoc with the constitutional process and democratic system.
I have been covering Punjab Assembly proceedings and the political activities for a decade or so but Monday could be safely declared as another blackest day in the history of Punjab Assembly or the seventy years of the country’s political history when the legislators who are part of this house embarrassed the democratic process, democracy, and the House itself as they were supposed to pass the budget for the 120 million people of Punjab and it was important for the province to proceed which is already facing political and economic crises since last few months or so.
It was the need of the hour that both the treasury and opposition benches should have kept their political differences aside and passed the budget which is the need of the hour for the province to proceed. But unfortunately, the custodian of the House who is none other than the veteran politician Mr Elahi who always stood up for respect, sanctity, and prestige of the House and advocated that the House is supreme has embarrassed the House himself by putting his ego over and above everything.
Let me recall that it is unprecedented in the parliamentary history of the Punjab Assembly that the government couldn’t present the provincial budget due to political deadlock between the coalition government led by Hamza Shehbaz Sharif and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was seen as the main player of this entire saga.
Given the prevailing tensions, this was not unexpected. So, when I reached the House at around 12pm on Monday to cover the proceedings the session was scheduled for 2pm on Monday. Let me recall that it started from the meeting of the business advisory committee, where the deadlock was first witnessed as both PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) were determined that both the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and chief secretary should be summoned in the House and they must tender an apology to the provincial lawmakers who faced police crackdown during last few weeks.
However, the Hamza Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition govt in Punjab was reluctant to call both the high profile officers to the House following which the rounds of talks were held between the government and the opposition, but the deadlock persisted and the session could not be held for six hours.
When the session started at 8pm, the former minister for law and parliamentary affairs Raja Basharat stated that the chief minister and the chief secretary are not present in the house which is against the tradition of this House.
“Mr Speaker, sir please don’t allow the budget to be presented until the bureaucracy is here,” Mr Basharat said which was endorsed by another PTI legislator and former provincial minister Mian Aslam Iqbal following which Mr Elahi said that the opposition’s demand is absolutely correct.
In reply to this, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs apprised the House that CM Hamza Shehbaz and Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal would reach the House as soon as the budget speech was allowed by the Speaker.
Another drama was witnessed when senior PTI legislator Chaudhry Zaheeruddin raised a question about Provincial Minister Attaullah Tarar’s presence in the House as he stated that Mr Tarar is a minister but not a member of the parliament. Taking action, PA Speaker Mr Elahi directed the assembly security staff to force Mr Tarar to leave the House following which the sergeant-at-arms were going towards Mr Tarar but the PML-N lawmakers surrounded him and he refused to leave the House.
The House portrayed the image of a fish market at this point and severe chaos was witnessed in the House at this point. Mr Elahi adjourned the session for 10 minutes, warning Mr Tarar to leave. The 10-minute break was further prolonged for over an hour but Mr Tarar was still in the House when Elahi came back to his chair to initiate the proceedings. Mr Tarar left the House himself and tweeted, “My ego is not as big as Pervez Elahi. I walked out in protest despite being a minister and taking oath under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan Zindabad,” his tweet reads.
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz arrived in the House at 10:30pm and was accorded a resounding welcome by the treasury benches.
After Mr Tarar left the House, Mr Elahi once again inquired about the IGP and Chief Secretary but they were not present in the officers’ gallery. “I want to tell all of you that the presence of these bureaucrats will ensure the sanctity of the house,” Mr Elahi said but many critics believe that he is doing it only to satisfy his personal ego.
An utmost effort was made by Malik Ahmad Khan, the provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs multiple times to convince the speaker to allow the finance minister to present the budget speech but in vain.
PTI Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid was of the view that PTI workers and legislators faced police brutality during the ‘Azadi March’ and, therefore, the IG should be summoned and her views were endorsed by other PTI legislators, including Mian Aslam Iqbal, Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, Murad Ras and Sibtain Khan who raised similar concerns.
However, Law Minister Malik Ahmad Khan insisted that the IGP Rao Sardar Ali Khan and the CS Kamran Ali Fazal will be summoned after the government presents the budget.
Agreeing with him, Provincial Minister Sardar Awais Leghari, who was assigned the duty to present the budget, stated that there are no provisions in the constitution which could stop him from presenting the budget.
However, the speaker ruled that the proceedings will not continue until the government ensures the presence of IGP and CS. Later, he adjourned the house to meet again on Tuesday at 1pm but the session couldn’t start till the filing of this political diary.
There is no doubt that IGP and CS should be summoned to the House but the Speaker should not relate it to the provincial budget as it will affect the 120 million people of Punjab. The Federal, KP and Sindh budgets are already presented, then why are the people of Punjab deprived of this constitutional right?
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