PESHAWAR: Lawmakers of Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan People’s Party hurled abuses at each other and used offensive remarks in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday causing pandemonium, which the chair failed to control.

On the other hand, women lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf also boycotted the sitting due to ‘inappropriate behaviour of their senior colleagues’ and non-provision of funds for development schemes.

The mayhem began when PPP MPA Sahibzada Sanaullah Khan pointed out a lack of quorum irritating Mohammad Ali Khan of the JI.

Mr. Mohammad Ali uttered abusive language when Mr. Sahibzada insisted that it was his privilege to point out a lack of quorum.

“Get the hell out of here, you pig,” the JI lawmaker shouted at the opposition member. The word ‘pig’ is used to insult rival.

PTI’s women boycott sitting against seniors’ ‘misconduct’, denial of uplift funds

The MPA later left his seat in an attempt to physically attack Sahibzada.

The sergeant-at-arms and other lawmakers rushed towards his seat and stopped him from proceeding to the opposition MPA.

Mr. Sahibzada also uttered abusive words and reprimanded Mr. Mohammad Ali.

“Who is this …… to stop me from pointing out a lack of quorum? I know your forefathers very well,” he shouted.

Seeing the incident, a senior official of assembly secretariat remarked: “It is happening in the assembly whose members have been visiting the UK to learn about parliamentary manners, values and traditions.”

“The government is spending millions of funds on the foreign training of the lawmakers,” he said.

Less than 10 MPAs were present in the house when a lack of quorum was pointed out after tea break.

Deputy Speaker Dr Meher Taj Roghani, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings and swiftly moved towards her chamber.

The pediatrician-turned-deputy speaker didn’t ask the secretariat staff to expunge ‘un-parliamentary’ words from the records.

The sitting turned into a free-for-all shortly after it began. Lawmakers and the chair herself did not take care of the parliamentary traditions of the assembly, which is often referred as a ‘jirga’ of Pakhtuns.

The opposition benches staged a walkout twice protesting non-provision of funds for development schemes in their respective constituencies and absence of ministers from the house.

They also said the relevant departments did not submit reply of their questions to the assembly secretariat.

Only three ministers were present in the house.

The opposition said the government recently released Rs3 billion funds to the selected constituencies for development schemes.

It demanded the formation of a special committee of the house to conduct inquiry into the allocation of funds for the purpose.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member Abdul Sattar Khan called the chair as ‘amma jee’ (elderly woman) instead of Madam Speaker when he took the floor on a point of order.

The chair snubbed him and reminded the lawmaker to call speaker because the words amma jee had never been mentioned in the assembly rules of business.

Sattar Khan, who hails from Kohistan district, began his speech in Kohistani language.

He said Kohistani was the third largest language of KP after Pashto and Hindko and therefore, he would use it, his mother tongue, instead of Urdu, English or Pashto.

“Being a Kohistani, I am not dumb and will speak in my own language,” he said.

Dr Roghani said lawmakers could speak only Urdu, Pashto and English as no other language was mentioned in the rules of business.

On one occasion, the chair asked three women MPA in harsh tone to resume seats when they stood in front of the speaker’s rostrum asking for the chance to speak.

Both MPAs were attempting to inform the house about the boycott of the PTI’s women lawmakers.

“Leave. Get away,” the chair directed lawmakers to resume seats.

Women MPAs of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf complained of the ‘step-motherly’ attitude and non-provision of development funds.

They also complained about the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPAs’ ‘unbecoming behaviour’ and announced they won’t return to the house.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2017