• Govt, opp lawmakers taunt each other for being establishment’s ‘lackeys’
• Asif loses cool, says ‘first’ military dictator needs to be ‘exhumed and hanged’
• Omar Ayub castigates establishment for ‘political interference’

ISLAMABAD: The opening day of the National Assembly’s new session on Monday was marred by frequent noisy protests by the opposition members, as Defence Minister Khawaja Asif launched a blistering counterattack against Opposition Leader Omar Ayub after the latter accused the military establishment of interfering in the country’s political affairs and Feb 8 elections.

The defence minister’s response, which included some personal remarks aimed at opposition members, sparked repeated interruptions and angry protests from the opposition benches who threatened to disrupt the proceedings asking the minister to apologise.

The minister, however, not only refused to yield, but said he stood by each and every word and would never seek an apology from those “who had attacked military installations and destroyed martyrs’ monuments” in the garb of protests on May 9 last year after the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan.

The minister’s remarks further fuelled the tense atmosphere in the assembly. At one point, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq became helpless and failed to maintain order in the house, providing an opportunity for the members from both sides to exchange harsh words. Some of the members from both sides of the aisle were heard uttering inappropriate and improper remarks against each other, and a PML-N minority MNA, Kesoo Mal Kheal Das, was heard threatening an opposition member that he would give him a thrashing and befitting response for allegedly abusing him. The speaker asked the PML-N MNA to submit a complaint in writing, assuring him that he would take action.

It all started when opening the debate on the April 18 address of President Asif Zardari to the joint sitting of parliament, the opposition leader lashed out at the country’s military establishment over its alleged political role. He indirectly called for the trial of the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) under Article 6 over his last week’s “political press conference”.

The firebrand defence minister in his speech endorsed the opposition leader’s demand, but said the process must start with former military dictator Ayub Khan who had first imposed martial law in the country in 1958.

“The body of the fake Field Marshal, Ayub Khan, who instituted the first martial law, should also be dug out and hanged under Article 6,” he said, prompting a strong reaction from the opposition members headed by Omar Ayub, who happens to be the grandson of the military dictator.

At this point, the opposition members heckled Mr Asif and taunted him and his party for being an ally of military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq and reminded him that his father was a member of Gen Zia’s so-called ‘Majlis-i-Shura’.

The minister said he had already apologised on the floor over his party’s support for Gen Zia, while asking the opposition members to be courageous and tender an apology.

Mr Asif alleged that Imran Khan had become the prime minister with the support of then-army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and former ISI head Faiz Hameed in the 2018 elections.

He targeted the opposition leader for frequently changing his loyalties and recalled that Omar Ayub had contested the previous elections on the tickets of PPP, PML-N, PML-Q and the PTI.

Amid constant sloganeering by the opposition members, the minister also taunted the opposition leader for being a part of the cabinet of the military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The minister said Ayub Khan was “the first to violate his oath” and turned the direction of the country.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and the opposition leader demanded the floor to respond to the minister’s remarks, but the speaker refused, warning that if the opposition members did not take their seats, he would adjourn the sitting without allowing them the debate on the presidential address.

Over frequent interruptions, Mr Asif even criticised the speaker for his failure to maintain order in the house and over “poor security” of the house while drawing his attention towards the presence of some PTI supporters in the gallery who were later expelled for raising slogans in support of Imran Khan.

Opening the debate earlier in the day, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub quoted various articles of the Constitution, highlighting that the security forces should stay away from politics.

He also read the oath of commissioned officers in the armed forces and alleged that the ISPR DG had violated his oath by doing a “political press conference.”

The security institutions, he said, could not indulge in politics as per the Constitution and his press conference should not have happened.

Quoting the ISPR’s press conference, where the military spokesperson said that inquiry commissions should be formed for prior issues such as the PTI’s 2014 sit-in, Omar Ayub demanded that the reports for the Ojhri Camp disaster, the Hamoodur Rehman Commission, the Army Public School inquiry, and the Abbottabad commission should also be released to the public.

He also cited several cases alleging political victimisation of the PTI members.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2024