PESHAWAR: The Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly has formally addressed a letter to the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, countering the ill-treatment of the KP delegation during their recent stay in Lahore.
The Speaker of KP, in his letter, expressed his strong concerns regarding the treatment accorded to the Chief Minister of KP and his cabinet members when they first came to the Punjab Assembly. The complaint states that the delegation was let in and then denied entry at the gates of the Assembly; they were pushed around, and their entrance was unnecessarily delayed again and again. Once, it was said, the Chief Minister was exceptionally denied entry on foot and sent back to his car.
The letter narrated the situation of the elected representatives being “whipped to the ground,” “restrained with force,” and “bothered,” proclaiming that this kind of conduct was absolutely intolerable and against the parliamentary standards. It went on to confirm that the disgraceful treatment meted out to the KP delegation could irretrievably spoil inter-provincial relations which may eventually lead to a lack of cohesion at the national level.
Besides, the KP Speaker did not fail to point out that the incident at the Punjab Assembly was not merely a transgression of parliamentary niceties but the violation of federal principles as well. Moreover, the presence of some reporters and their extremely unprofessional behaviour during the incident was also mentioned as one of the reasons for the discomfort.
In conclusion, the letter urged the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly to admit the mistake in the incident and to take measures to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future. The KP Speaker implored his Punjab colleague to deal with the issue so that not only the two provinces would have better relations but also the elected officials would maintain their dignity.
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