PML-N, MQM exchange barbs in Pak National Assembly

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement indulged in a nasty blame game in the National Assembly, accusing each other of point-scoring in the wake of the fragile law and order situation in the country.

Legislators of both parties created a cacophony after PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that MQM’s “London-based leader” was a foreign national, but was talking of military coup in Pakistan.

It is noteworthy that MQM chief Altaf Hussain had earlier said: If I have to come back to the country with military uniform on to make country sovereign, I will not mind it.”

“Let me know which country’s uniform your leader will put on,” the Dawn quoted Iqbal, as saying in the National Assembly.

The PML-N leader alleged that the MQM was propped up and pampered by military dictators Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf, and said the party’s call for martial law in Pakistan was tantamount to treason under the Constitution.

Speaking on a point of order, Syed Asif Hussain of the MQM accused the PML-N of capitalising on the situation in Karachi, and asked the party to put its own house in order before maligning others.

Quoting various incidents of law and order in Punjab, particularly that of the firing on a passenger van in Hafizabad and the killing of two young brothers in Sialkot, Hussain urged the PML-N to pay heed to the growing mal-administration in the province. (ANI)