The broadcast of the NA session was interrupted several times by PTV during the speeches of Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Asad Qaiser.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday endorsed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur's demand to form a judicial commission to probe the May 9 violent incidents.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Bilawal asked the prime minister-elect to plead with Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa to constitute a commission of inquiry headed by the chief judge himself into the May 9 incidents. And, he said, the PTI and other parties would also have to accept the commission's conclusions.
Bilawal urged all political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to sit together to draft a national reconciliation charter and rescue the nation from inflation.
He called on his “friends” on the opposition benches to be part of the national political process. He said that the people of Pakistan through his votes announced such a verdict after which he would be forced to take decisions jointly.
“The masses of Pakistan are sending a message that they are fatigued by our internal struggles. If the people wanted, they would have given the majority to a political party,” he stated, adding that everyone should work for national reconciliation and hold talks on issues of national interest.
He said that judicial and electoral reforms would have to be introduced and that he would like the opposition to participate in the introduction of reforms so that no party would have to feel remorse for the upcoming elections. So, he said, next time no one will be able to lift a finger about whether Shehbaz won the election or “prisoner number 804.”
“You know how difficult it is to participate in elections. Every day is a battle and the biggest battle is election day,” she said.
Bilawal endorsed the invitation extended by Prime Minister-elect Shehbaz Sharif for the reconciliation letter and said the opposition should respond positively to the offer and sit with the government to find a solution to the economic difficulties.
He emphasized that political parties must maintain a dialogue on the Charter of Reconciliation and the Charter of Economy.
The PPP chairman said the people expect their elected representatives to lead the country out of the multi-dimensional challenges it faces, including those on the economic front.
Bilawal asked the members of the house to protect the people from the economic crisis as prices of raw materials were increasing manifold but incomes were not. He invited all stakeholders to sit together and lift Pakistan out of its difficulties.
The former foreign minister said he disagreed with the opposition leader's claim that his ideology was different. He claimed that Ayub would not know the mandate of his party as much as he does.
He said that about nine years ago a family could buy groceries for Rs 4,000, but now they needed at least Rs 17,000.
The PPP chairman said that it would be great if the opposition gave their opinion on Prime Minister Shehbaz's policy, but if they did not give their opinion on the policy then they had no right to oppose it.
He reiterated that there were 18 such ministries that should have been dissolved in 2015.
The PPP chief said these were his party's points, while the SIC and other parties would also have their points to make.
Lamenting the protests by members of the House during the speeches of the prime minister-elect and opposition leader in the Sunday session, Bilawal said people were disappointed to see lawmakers hurling accusations and abuses at each other in Parliament.
Recalling Ayub's complaint that opposition members' speeches were not broadcast on state channel PTV, Bilawal said: “We should not continue this tradition. [of censorship] established by Khan sahib.”
“We have to make decisions that strengthen this House and improve the future of the country,” said the president of the PPP, emphasizing that the people voted in the February 8 elections to escape poverty.
“Our colleagues would have been able to hear the Prime Minister's speech if they had not been protesting,” he said.
In NA the raid on Achakzai's house is condemned
At the start of the National Assembly session, lawmakers condemned the alleged raid at the residence of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) president Mahmood Khan Achakzai in Quetta.
In his turn to speak, the PPP president said that he came across the news of the raid on Achakzai's house, which he condemned and appealed to Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti to investigate the incident.
He said the PkMAP president was also a presidential candidate and the incident was making the presidential election controversial.
NA president Ayaz Sadiq said he was not aware of what happened.
The PPP chief asked the speaker to allow Achakzai to speak because he probably wanted to say something.
Achakzai then informed the House that his 200 relatives and friends had died in the fighting inflicted on his home over the past 15 years. He said political parties would have to sit together to rescue the country from the crisis.
Criticizing the raid, PTI leader Omar Ayub said they would bring a resolution in the AN against the incident.
Ayub also objected to his NA speech not being broadcast live on the media. When the PTI leader tried to talk about Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, his microphone was muted.
The speaker said that according to the rules such a thing could not be said. When Sadiq allowed him to speak again, Ayub demanded the dismissal of the Punjab inspector general, who held him responsible for the injury of a young PTI worker. He also asked the custodian of the house to attribute the responsibility of the incident to CM Maryam.
The PTI leader also filed a privilege motion against the suspension of his speech.
