Heated Exchange and Verbal Clash Between Abid Sher Ali and Aimal Wali Khan During Senate Committee Meeting
ISLAMABAD: On Wednesday, the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights was brought to a standstill after Pakistan Muslim League-Naz (PML-N) Senator Abid Sher Ali had a heated verbal sparring with Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Aimal Wali Khan at the meeting.
The committee meeting was chaired by committee’s chairman Samina Mumtaz Zehri and was called to discuss several critical issues in public, among which the suicide of a sanitary worker in Gujranwala allegedly due to receiving half of his salary was a tragic issue. The Director-General, Suthra Punjab and the Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of the Gujranwala Waste Management Company were put on the hot seat during the proceedings and could not provide satisfactory answers to the members of the committee.
Verbal Clash Over Questioning Style
As the committee members questioned the officials for answers, Senator Abid Sher Ali intervened and asked Senator Aimal Wali Khan to give them a chance to speak and noted that he was questioning them like he was in a police station, when in fact he was sitting in a parliamentary forum.
Aimal Wali, who was taking a strong exception to the remarks, shot back, “Who are you to stop me and you are not our boss? The argument quickly turned heated as Abid Sher Ali said to him to mind his language, Aimal Wali fired back saying, “Are you going to teach me how to speak? Do not talk to me in this manner either.”
Intervention and Committee Mediation.
However, in a timely manner, Committee Chairperson Samina Mumtaz Zehri and other members of the committee intervened to defuse the tension and act as a mediator between the two MPs, and resolved the verbal clash.
Later, when asked on the issue, Senator Aimal Wali Khan thanked the media for highlighting the situation of the sanitary worker and was disappointed with the “few words” responses of Suthra Punjab officials. He promised to make sure that justice is done to the family involved and that the person(s) who were negligent will be accountable.