Senate witnesses rumpus as Mushahidullah criticises govt

ISLAMABAD: The session of the Senate on Monday experienced rumpus when members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the opposition PML-N exchanged heated words in the upper house of Parliament.

PML-N senator Mushahidullah Khan kicked up the rumpus as he took the floor, criticising the treasury benches.

He accused Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani of being biased in favour of the treasury benches after the latter asked him to take his seat.

The house also saw a heated exchange between Mushahiddullah Khan and PTI senator Nauman Wazir Khattak.

The PML-N senator continued using unparliamentary words despite being stopped from doing so by the Senate chairman. The Senate chairman, however, later expunged all these words and cautioned him against using such words.

Meanwhile, the Senate resumed debate on motions regarding terms and conditions of all types of loans taken by the government, recent price hike in gas and electricity prices and recent Dharna.

Taking part in the discussion, Senator Faisal Javed Khan said the government is taking concrete steps to enhance exports of the country.

He said remittances have reached at its highest level. He said people of Pakistan demand accountability across the board. He said process of accountability will speed up.

Opposition benches criticized the government for reaching an agreement with protesters to end the sit-in held in Islamabad and other parts of the country.They also criticized the government for selective accountability.

They said the government should fulfil the promises made during elections campaign. They said that loans from foreign countries will increase the inflation rate in the country.

The House offered fateha for the departed soul of Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri Khan’s mother who died on Sunday.

Thirteen bills were introduced in the House.

These include: “The Day Care Centres Bill, 2018”, “ The Trained Paramedical Staff Facility Bill, 2018”, “ The Board of Investment (Amendment) Bill, 2018”, “The Ratification of Foreign Agreements by Parliament Bill, 2018,” “The Exit from Pakistan (Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2018”, “The SBP Banking Services Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2018”, “ The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 11)”, “ The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) bill, 2018”, “The Foreign Private Investment (Promotion and Protection) (Amendment) Bill, 2018”, ‘The Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2018”, “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 130)”, “The State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2018”, “The Maternity and Paternity Leave Bill, 2018”.

The chair referred the bills to the concerned committees of the House.