PESHAWAR - The scuffle between two PTI Lawmakers, including Javed Nasim and Arbab Jehandad Khan, forced the Deputy Speaker to adjourn the proceedings of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for 15 minutes.

PTI legislator Arbab Jandad Khan accused his fellow MPA Javed Nasim of abusing PTI Chief Imran Khan while Javed Nasim maintained that Arbab Jandad was using inappropriate language in the house.

The clash was erupted after exchange of harsh arguments and then started physically manhandling each other. The members and security staff in the House intervened and pacify the situation and after this the chair adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes.

However, as soon as house resumed the proceedings, Deputy Speaker Meher Taj Roghani again adjourned the session for the day after lack of quorum was pointed out by PML-N legislator Sobia Khan.

Earlier, Amna Sardar of PML-N on a point of order raised the issue of adhoc lecturers serving in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on deputation and said the provincial government has stopped paying salaries to the lecturers for last nine months and their regularisation is still pending.

She said that as many as 213 lecturers including females were serving in FATA from 2011 but still they were being ignored by the provincial government.

Uzma Khan of JUI-F endorsing the point of order said that the adhoc lecturers had time and again arranged protests against non-payment of salaries and non-regularisation and urged the government to at least pay their salaries before the holy month of Ramazan.

Responding to the point of order, Special Assistant to Chief Minister for Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani said that he has taken up the matter with bureaucracy, which is reluctant to do, deeming it against rule of law. He said that according to the bureaucracy the lecturers were appointed on adhoc bases and not on contract, therefore their services could not be regularised. He ensured to take up the matter with FATA Directorate and KP bureaucracy for regularisation of the FATA adhoc lectures.

Talking to media after the session, Special Assistant to Chief Minister for Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani termed the quarrel part of the routine business in the assemblies.

Meanwhile, parliamentary leader of PML-N parliamentarian Sardar Aurengzeb Nalota talking to media termed the scuffle immature attitude of PTI legislators and a disgrace for the people of KP. He said that since the PTI has failed to deliver in the province therefore the members of treasury benches always exchange harsh arguments in the house.

In the meanwhile, the opposition tore apart the agenda of the house and other relevant papers of the proceedings and raised slogans of “shame shame, its real change of PTI”.

The opposition members did not return to house in protest after 15 minutes of adjournments by the chair. Later, the Deputy Speaker adjourned the house to meet again on May 25, Wednesday at 1500 hours.