Opposition lawmakers stage protest in National Assembly, demand medical care for Imran

ISLAMABAD: Opposition lawmakers on Monday staged a protest on the National Assembly floor, demanding proper medical care for incarcerated PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan.

During today’s session, PTI members did not point out a lack of quorum as the session commenced, which was chaired by Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah.

As soon as the session progressed, the leader of the opposition in the lower house, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, stood at his seat and said that the deadline had expired and the government was not providing the required medical care to the former prime minister.

“We had given the government time until Monday to mend its ways in this regard and had announced that we would not be part of the proceedings,” he said, adding that the opposition would also boycott the budget session.

However, as he spoke, his voice was cut off and his speech was not broadcast on any official channel.

PTI lawmakers also gathered around the Speaker’s seat and raised slogans in favour of their leaders.

They also held a shadow proceeding of the House and designated Achakzai as the Speaker.

The protest also continued during the Question Hour.

As soon as the Question Hour ended at around 6:18pm, the PTI lawmakers left the House, and Shahid Khattak, along with a few other PTI members, pointed out a lack of quorum in the National Assembly; they also left soon after the counting began.

But the treasury members were more than the required 86 MNAs, so the session continued. The House also approved amendments to two laws.

The National Assembly is set to meet again on Tuesday morning.

Govt denies deportation of Pakistanis from UAE

Meanwhile, responding to a question by MNA Mussarat Rafique, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary said that all reports regarding the mass deportation of Pakistanis from the UAE were “incorrect and false.”

“These are all social media creations. In fact, we have not received any complaint from any person regarding deportation from any country, specifically the UAE,” he said.

He added that there were persistent crime-related cases, and those convicted and imprisoned were being repatriated.

The minister said that a total of 9,233 labour-related complaints were received from Pakistani workers, as reported by Pakistani missions in the Middle East. These included 5,321 from Saudi Arabia, 1,310 from Bahrain, 850 from Oman, while the rest were from Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait.

In response to another question, the government informed the House that 164,788 Pakistanis had been deported from Gulf countries in the last five years.

These included 108,029 from Saudi Arabia, 40,497 from the UAE, 9,814 from Oman, 2,971 from Qatar, 2,779 from Bahrain and 698 from Kuwait.