Punjab Assembly: Treasury, opposition MPs exchange blows

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly’s last day in office was nothing less than a grand finale in the worst way possible with obscene cussing, racist slurs and kick-boxing royal rumble after PTI MPA Arif Abbasi used a racist slur to address the PML-N Minority MPA Tariq Gill.

The agitation started after the PML-N MPA Umer Farooq said that the so-called public leader lives at the Bani Gala Mansion. He went on to say that various ridges of the Bani Gala hill are known for different activities.

The opposition leader asked the Speaker to force the PML-N MPA to withdraw his comments and apologise. However, Umer Farooq refused to do so. This enraged the PTI members to the point that the opposition Leader Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid and MPA Nabila Hakim Ali started openly using obscene cussing at the PML-N MPA. PML-N MPA Farzana Butt and Tariq Gill responded to the cussing of the PTI members by calling Imran Khan leader of anti-Pakistan.

PTI MPA Arif Abbasi in his fury uttered ridiculous remarks against Tariq Gill, which enraged Mr Gill to the point that it turned into a brawl with kicks and punches being thrown and received between Arif Abbasi, Shehzad Munshi and Tariq Gill.

The minority MPAs walked out of the assembly. They protested outside the assembly and demanded the resignation of Arif Abbasi for his racist slur. The Treasury benches joined them and protested against the behaviour of the opposition members.

Later, however, sanity prevailed after both the opposition and the treasury benches apologised for their words and behaviour. Earlier, the session started three hours late in which the Opposition Leader Mahmood-ur-Rashid, Dr Nosheen Hamid, Faiza Malik, Nabeela Hakim, Asif Mahmood, Sadia Sohail, Chaudhry Iqbal and Arif Abbasi spoke on the supplementary budget.

The opposition leader and members criticised the lavish spending of the chief minister on his person and said that austerity needed to be observed and the taxpayers’ money be spent on development.

MPA Hina Pervez Butt submitted a resolution in the assembly, condemning the recent brutal massacre of 60 unarmed Palestinians by the Israeli forces. The resolution demanded that the Palestinians be provided security and Israel be reprimanded over these inhuman actions. The assembly proceedings were prorogued sine die.