Government pressurised me not to attend Geo shows, says PPP MP | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Government pressurised me not to attend Geo shows, says PPP MP

Farooq Aqdus and Asim Yasin

ISLAMABAD: Treasury members had to face tense situation on Monday during the budget debate in the National Assembly when one of their colleagues, a minority member belonging to Sindh, criticised the government, though he started his speech with the slogan of Jeay Bhutto and ended it with the same slogan and also paid tribute to President Asif Ali Zardari by saying Pakistan Kappay, Kappy during his speech.

In the meantime, the PPP MNA belonging to Quetta Syed Nasir Shah, in his speech, said he had got votes from the people on the slogan of ‘roti, kapra and makkan’, but the present budget was neither meant for the poor nor it reflected the PPP slogans. While strongly criticising government policies in connection with budget, he said he was pressurised not to participate in Geo programmes and he was directed there was no need to go to Geo. He said he asked whether Geo was the channel of India or Jews? He said Geo TV channel was originally a Pakistani channel and whenever it would invite him, he would go there and nobody could stop him.

The remarks of Syed Nasir Shah shocked the MNAs belonging to PPP and they kept on listening to the speech of Nasir Shah and no member tried to interrupt him. While on the other hand, the opposition members thumped the desks with jubilation on his critical speech. Justice (R) Fakherun Nisa was among those ruling party members who praised Syed Nasir Shah by thumping the desk.

At the end of his speech, while gathering his papers from the desk, Nasir Shah told Mr speaker that he is walking out of the House in protest against the policies of the government and budget, and on it some ruling party members tried to stop him and made him to sit on his chair but he did not agree and staged the walkout.

Meanwhile, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said PPP’s slogan of ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’ had changed to ‘America, Iqtedar aur Bureaucrat’. He said the government had failed to halt drone attacks and to implement parliamentary resolutions. He demanded an immediate end to all military operations in Balochistan and called for a departmental inquiry into the Karachi incident in which an unarmed youth was gunned to death by Rangers.

Qureshi says he resisted party pressure not to take part in a Geo News programme. “I was asked by the party not to participate in the Geo programme but I told them I will appear in the programme since Geo is a purely Pakistani channel,” he said before staging a walkout and announcing boycotting the budget session.
Source: The News
Date:6/14/2011