The provincial assembly of Punjab witnessed severe ruckus and pandemonium on Thursday over the detention of PTI’s central leader Dr. Shahbaz Gill by the federal government.
Extremely derogatory remarks were passed from both sides of the aisle when the issue of Gill’s detention echoed in the House. After making headlines for the last 24 hours, both the health and detention of Shehbaz Gill reached the Punjab Assembly when PTI’s minister Mian Aslam Iqbal raised the issue. The derogatory remarks used by Aslam Iqbal against the federal government provoked the PML-N led opposition in Punjab Assembly as its MPAs also started replying in the same derogatory tone. The House was presented the look of a ‘fish market’ as the MPAs from both sides were at loggerheads with each other and Speaker had to intervene to decrease the temperature.
“Not a person having some dignity can launch crackdown on women but police was sent to our bedrooms on 25th May,” Minister for Housing Mian Aslam Iqbal said. Our mothers and daughters were harassed on the behest of the shameless chief minister of that time, he added. It infuriated the MPAs of opposition as they started chanting slogans against the PTI government.
Speaking in the House, Home Minister Col (retd) Hashim Dogar said that the Islamabad Police arrested Shehbaz Gill just like a terrorist and he was given the treatment that we cannot even imagine to give to any animal. “Shehbaz Gill was kept in the isolation cell on his very first day of captivity and he was very much scared that he didn’t tell me anything when I visited him,” said the home minister. He further added that Gill lost his conscious when he saw the police with ‘blue uniform’ [of the Islamabad police] and therefore he was shifted to the hospital.
The home minister was of the view that federal government wanted to impose emergency when there was confrontation between the Punjab Police and Islamabad Police over the issue of Gill. The home minister was also seen distancing himself from the controversial remarks of Gill against the Pak Army. “If Shehbaz Gill is wrong then he should get the punishment,” he said, while adding that Pak Army has a very important role in strengthening this country.
The House saw another sad incident when PPP lawmaker Shazia Abid wasn’t given the opportunity to speak. She only got the chance when she staged sit-in outside the dais of Speaker. “I was trying to speak on the flood situation in my hometown of South Punjab where people are devastated but only Shehbaz Gill is being discussed here,” she said. Speaking on the havoc caused due to flood, the PPP lawmaker was in tears and said that no one is concerned about the catastrophe in South Punjab. There is no camp for the people and they are forced to spend nights in the open sky, the lawmaker said. Speaker Sabtain Khan was of the view that areas hit by flood should be declared calamity-hit areas.
Earlier, the House passed ‘The University of Kamalia Bill’ moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raja Basharat. The session was later adjourned to meet again on Monday afternoon after the gap of three days.
University of Kamalia
The Punjab Assembly on Thursday passed University of Kamalia Bill 2022, which was moved by the Provincial Minister for Cooperative, Environment Protection and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Basharat Raja.
