ISLAMABAD: After she directed an abusive jibe at Faisal Vawda, Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, during a a disorderly session on Tuesday, barred Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legislator Falak Naz from attending the upper house proceedings for two days.
The ruckus comes a day after police arrested several PTI lawmakers and leaders in midnight raids a day after it held a major rally in the capital to demand party founder Imran Khan's release.
The law-enforcers cited the violation of a newly enacted law regulating public rallies as the reason for the arrests.
The PTI said nearly a dozen of its parliamentarians had been picked up in Islamabad. Others had sought refuge in parliament to evade law enforcers, it said.
The turbulent Senate session, marked by an indiscriminate exchange of barbs between senators, saw an enraged Vawda accuse opposition members of hypocrisy.
Reportedly, PTI Senator Falak Naz hurled swear words at Vawda, prompting him to vehemently protest her inappropriate language.
The Senate chairman first ordered the expungement of the abusive words from the record, but the outspoken senator was not satisfied with it.
"Abuse is rampant, but we will respond with reason," Vawda said, demanding action from Gilani.
"They are using abusive language even in the Senate, Chairman Sahib, arrest them."
Calling on the chairman for strict action and not a slap on the wrist, the former federal minister stressed that apologies wouldn’t be enough to resolve the situation.
"Words won't fix this, chairman Sahib, you must take action," he insisted suggesting suspending the female senator if she refused to apologise.
Gilani, who initially hesitated, finally gave in under Vawda's pressure, and declared: "If she doesn’t apologise, I will suspend her."
Vawda, in his outburst, demanded that those responsible must be held accountable for their actions.
"There will either be an apology or a three-year suspension," he warned, as Gilani suspended Falak Naz’s membership for two days, attempting to restore order to the Senate.
Referring to past political manoeuvres, Vawda remarked that certain figures within the opposition, who once claimed NAB amendments were unjust, later benefitted from them.
Aiming the opposition's clamour, Vawda, referring to the brutal murder of journalist Arshad Shair in Kenya, claimed, "You had an innocent person killed for your politics."
He further stated that while the opposition talks of unity, their actions tell a different story.
“Had you not talked about breaking the country, we would have stood with you,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday announced that he would investigate the complaints, which, if verified, could result in legal action. He ordered all detained lawmakers to be returned to parliament.
Media footage showed police pushing the lawmakers into vehicles outside parliament, a scene that Omar Ayub Khan, the party's leader of the opposition, called "despicable".
"Yesterday's massive protest has sent shivers down the government's spine," Khan's aide, Zulfikar Bukhari, said in a post on X, calling the detentions illegal.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan was among those held, added Bukhari.