Maulana Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi, the son of slain Haq Nawaz Jhangvi grabbed the attention of everyone sitting in the Punjab Assembly as HE threatened to lock jam the whole province if the issues of his constituency would not be addressed by the government. Jhangvi was speaking on the budget passed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday during a general discussion on the budget in Punjab Assembly. “The budget presented by the government is a joke because of the sheer pandemonium in the house on the budget day as it was presented amid the ruckus and whistle-blowing from both the treasury and opposition benches,” Jhangvi said, who became the member of Punjab Assembly after winning a by-election from PP-78 last year in December and decided to sit on the treasury benches in the house.
“The thirty-year old sewerage system of Jhang has been collapsed and the people of my constituency are drinking unhygienic water. I gave my suggestions during the pre-budget discussion to improve the health and sanitation conditions of my constituency but all of the suggestions have been thrown in the dustbin,” he said. He was of the view that the people of his area sent him to the Punjab Assembly as they thought that their grievances would be addressed in this house but it seems that the government is not willing to pay any heed to their issues and is forcing the people of Jhang to resort to agitation to get their due rights.
“The people of Jhang will lock jam the whole province as their rights are being suppressed for the last three decades,” Jhangvi said, who hails from one of the most volatile districts of the country that is marred with Shia-Sunni rift that has been going on for the last many decades.
It may be mentioned here that the now proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba (SSP) was founded by the father of Masroor Jhangvi and the militant outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) was also named after him by his followers. Several quarters pointed fingers at the justice system in the country when Masroor Jhangvi became a lawmaker of the country’s largest province with an overwhelming victory of more than 12000 votes last year at a time when the National Action Plan was in full swing.
On Tuesday, Jhangvi tore the copies of the assembly’s agenda and walked out from the house in protest.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Jhangvi said that the government made a promise with him to allocate funds in this budget to establish a university in Jhang but not a single penny has been earmarked in this regard. “I represent more than 0.2 million people of my constituency and they all have some expectations from me but the government has completely ignored my voters,” he told this scribe.
Jhangvi joined JUI-F that is an ally of the PML-N after clinching his seat but the Chief Whip of PML-N in the Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Arshad interestingly claimed that the JUI-F is an ally of PML-N only in the centre and they have no alliance with JUI-F in Punjab.
Lawmakers Tariq Masih Gill, Zulfiqar Ghauri, Waheed Gull, Madiha Rana and some other also took part in the post-budget discussion. When a PTI’s lawmaker Arif Abbasi was speaking in the house, he was interrupted by some female lawmakers of the ruling party after which the opposition staged a walk-out from the house.
The session will resume on Wednesday morning.
