LAHORE - Emotional scenes were witnessed during Punjab Assembly’s Friday proceedings when the speaker denied a request from the opposition for a debate over a call-attention notice against the negligence of the government and security agencies about the Rawalpindi clashes.
After the question-hour, the opposition leader, Mehmoodur Rasheed, called for a debate, saying the incident, a conspiracy, could have sparked Shia-Sunni riots across the country.
The speaker replied that call-attention notice was not scheduled for the day and that it could be taken up on the next working day, if the opposition wanted it to be taken care of earlier.
But Rasheed went on to say innocent citizens were subjected to the jungle rule for four days without holding anybody accountable although Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had confirmed that initial investigations found a bunch of 150 people from within the Muharram procession invading the mosque and law-enforcement agencies arriving there nearly two hours late. He questioned why the elected representatives of Rawalpindi were not involved in security plans and in the post-attack scenario to maintain peace.
The opposition leader also urged the speaker to let PTI MPA Arif Abbasi to speak on the issue. But, the speaker denied the request, saying the notice would be taken up on Monday.
On this, Arif Abbasi in an emotional voice said the people of Pindi were being punished only due to the fact that they did not vote for the Pakistan Muslim League. “It appears as if Rawalpindi is not part of Punjab.”
He said none of the elected representatives were allowed to reach administration officials on the incident, while they were not even taken into confidence on any government policy during the last six months.
The House also witnessed a little rumpus when some members from the treasury began shouting at the opposition members, accusing them of not responding to the occasion and making political point-scoring on the issue.
The speaker calmed down the two sides before Law Minister Rana Sanaullah replied that this House would be taken into confidence about the identity of the culprits and those who exhibited negligence at a proper time, shortly.
The minister said it had already been decided with the opposition leaders that one full day would be allocated to debate the Pindi incident and related law and order issues.
The minister sounded displeased that the opposition wanted to twist the issue towards political victimisation, and said elected representatives had been taken on board about the security plans.
He invited the opposition members to sit together if they wanted to know what preparations had been made. He told the House that the culprits who had invaded the mosque and set the markets ablaze had already been identified through CCTV footages and that some of them had been taken in custody.
Sanaullah said maintaining security strictly fell in the administrative domain and required minimum involvement of political figures. However, if the opposition members were so fond of being on board then they should have reached the troubled areas and later the hospitals to inquire after the wounded, concluded the law minister.