Staff Reporter Islamabad
The opposition on Wednesday decided to table a no-confidence motion against National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.
A day earlier, the lawmakers stooped too low as they used foul language and threw budget books at the opponents; creating scenes of a rumpus in the Lower House that made it like a fish market.
It was the second consecutive day when the treasury benches tried to muzzle the voice of opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, who was to deliver his speech on the federal budget. The rumpus left at least one lawmaker and several sergeants at arms injured.
The decision of tabling a no-confidence motion against Qaiser was reached when PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and PPP Co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met in the NA to discuss the way forward after yesterday’s session.
In this regard, the joint opposition leaders also agreed to form a committee that would be tasked with tabling the motion.
However, the names of its members are under deliberation.
Meanwhile, the opposition, in a letter, has said that the silence of the leader of the House on the events in the National Assembly shows that these events could have not taken place without his consent.
This was said in a letter signed by the opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, Chairman PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other parliamentary party leaders of the opposition.
The letter also says that now the decision which is taken on the issue by the Speaker National Assembly will either restore the dignity of the parliament and the speaker or destroy them forever.
The action against the 7 MNAs announced in the media does not come close to recognizing the gravity of the events and in violations of the rules and is not acceptable.
Unless the speaker decides the perpetrators of these events first, the opposition cannot have any confidence of impartiality or the ability of the speaker to run the House according to parliamentary norms and traditions, the letter reads.
The letter recounts all the events which took place on 15 June during the speech of the Leader of Opposition while opening the debate on the budget.
The letter says that the speaker turned a blind eye to the events and aggression displayed by the
MNAs of the treasury benches.
