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Speaker grilled for promoting 'Ranas'

By: Ch Aamer  Waqas
LAHORE - Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan was virtually taken to task by members for giving more time to the Ranas of the Assembly, while being biased towards the non-Rajputs. 
This was pointed out by another Rajput from the Pakistan Peoples Party with sir-name Rai, that is, Shahjahan Ahmed Bhatti from Nankana Sahab. “You are not running the House in a better way, and promoting the elite of the Assembly,” he concluded, when Major (r) Abdur Rehman Rana was given time, while the Rai was still waiting for his turn. “You are promoting the Rana Group, while allowing many for speaking twice on the same subject, and neglecting those, who had prepared their speeches for five days,” he averred. 
The Speaker retorted by saying, “I regret your such a thinking.”
However, Shahjahan Bhatti was given time, who maintained that the departments should review their expenditures quarterly, and get Assembly’s approval for spending extra money. 
Interestingly, all the members consumed more time than the stipulated period. However, the difference was quite visible when members of the PML-Q were made to stop speaking, and almost the same treatment was meted to the PPP members, including a few of the N-League. On the other hand, quite a few, got almost double the time, and kept on speaking uninterruptedly. 
PPP’s Syed Hassan Murtaza and Iftikhar Babar Khaitran were made to go quiet even prior to the specified time was over. The Speaker continuously told them to conclude, while punctuating his statements with various comments, which turned out to hilarious at times. Hassan Murtaza object to Speaker’s repeated interruptions, while maintaining that he was losing track of his argument because of Speaker’s interruptions.