Pak Parliament Speaker bans 7 lawmakers including three from Imran Khan’s party

Islamabad, June 16

Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Wednesday barred seven lawmakers, including three from the ruling party, from entering the House, a day after parliamentarians from treasury and opposition benches hurled abuses and threw budget copies at each other.

Speaker Qaiser said that members who disrupted the session during Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif’s speech have been barred from entering the House as their behaviour was “unparliamentary” and “inappropriate”.

“They violated the rules and, despite the repeated direction of the chair, interrupted House proceedings,” he said.

Three lawmakers belonging to the PTI and the PML-N each and one member of Pakistan Peoples Party have been barred from attending the session. They include Ali Gohar Khan (PML-N), Chaudhary Hamid Hameed (PML-N), Sheikh Rohale Asghar (PML-N), Faheem Khan (PTI), Abdul Majeed Khan (PTI), Ali Nawaz Awan (PTI) and Syed Agha Rafiullah (PPP).

The Speaker said that the conduct of these “was grossly disorderly”.         

He further said that they “have been told to not enter the precinct of the Parliament House till further orders”.

One of the barred members, Awan, is also Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority Affairs. He was heard using highly abusive language against a PML-N lawmaker.

The ugly scenes were witnessed in the House when PML-N president Sharif attempted to make the customary speech to open the forum for debate on the budget. Within no time, the House turned into a battlefield.

The atmosphere was so tense that Speaker Qaiser had to suspend the proceedings of the House thrice.

PTI leader and Parliamentary Secretary for Law, Maleeka Bokhari, was hit on the face by some unknown object, injuring her eye and she was given treatment at the Parliament House dispensary.

Qaiser met Prime Minister Imran Khan before taking the decision to ban the erring members. He also held telephonic calls with Sharif and PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on the situation in the House. PTI

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