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PTI MNA Asad Qaiser on Tuesday “condemned” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s manner of addressing National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq during yesterday’s seething session.
Speaking on the floor of the Lower House on Tuesday, the former NA speaker said: “The way in which he (Khawaja Asif) addressed you and spoke with you; I condemn that.
Emphasising that the role of the NA speaker was “highly respectable”, the PTI leader said Asif should have “shown tolerance” as he has been in the House for years.
A day ago, the NA saw 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.
At one point during the heated exchange, the defence minister had appeared visibly frustrated and burst out at the NA speaker to maintain order in the house and allow him to speak.
Ayub, highlighting the Constitutional limits for state institutions, had suggested that violators of the Constitution should be tried for treason under Article 6 (high treason).
Criticising last week’s “political” press conference by the director general (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Ayub had said: “Security agencies cannot indulge in politics as per the Constitution,” adding that they were “tools of the state, not the state itself”.
In a searing response, Asif had said that accountability should begin with former dictator Ayub Khan — also the grandfather of Omar Ayub — and called for his body to be “dug out and hanged as per Article 6”.
Article 6 of the Constitution says: “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or hold in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.”
The punishment for high treason is death or lifetime imprisonment, according to the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973.
More to follow
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