Tensions between opposition leaders and government ran high on Saturday after PM Imran secured a vote of confidence from the National Assembly. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders alleged that they had been manhandled by PTI supporters outside the Parliament House.
Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khurram Dastagir, and Musadiq Malik were holding a press conference ahead of a special session of the NA. PML-N, along with other opposition parties, had boycotted the session today.
After the presser, the PML-N leaders alleged they were harassed and manhandled by PTI supporters. They added there was no police or security for their protection.
Several videos of the scuffle emerged showing PML-N leaders Malik and Abbasi angrily charging at PTI supporters and pushing them away. However, the security officials came in and took out Abbasi and Malik from the scene. Malik was also seen pushing behind the PTI workers. Meanwhile, another clip showed Iqbal being hit by a shoe.
Abbasi later came back and criticized that they did not want any security. An angry Abbasi said such behavior was reflective of the PTI’s tactics and challenged them to a face-off on the road “in front of the cameras”.
In addition to this, Abbasi alleged that today’s NA session was unconstitutional and illegal. He blamed the president, prime minister, and speaker NA for the heated situation outside the parliament.
Aurangzeb also said that “there is no prime minister in this country; instead there is a thug, bully, and a terrorist”.
PTI blames PML-N leaders Abbasi & Malik
While many reports suggested that PTI supporters instigated the violence, leaders of the ruling party claimed that Abbasi and Malik attacked the PTI supporters when they chanted slogans against PML-N and Nawaz Sharif.
“I was present there. These thugs deliberately came to hold a press conference among the PTI workers. When the PTI workers saw these looters, they began chanting making them enraged, who then attacked the unarmed workers,” he wrote.
On the other hand, PML-N spokesperson Aurangzeb accused some PTI workers of verbally abusing her. Malik asked whether this was the state of Madina Imran had promised where women were not safe.
Expressing her resolve, Aurangzeb said her party would continue to fight these power, sugar, and wheat thieves. “We will not let this hooliganism continue,” she added addressing the media after the incident.
Meanwhile, PM Khan secured majority votes on Saturday to win the vote of confidence from the NA. Moreover, the premier, who needed 172 votes to win the confidence vote, secured 178 votes.
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