Pakistan Minister, Senator hurl abuses in Parliament

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahidullah Khan and Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry hurled abuses at each other in Parliament, turning a joint session into a brawl.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, who was presiding over the proceedings alongside National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Wednesday, had to intervene and order to expunge non-parliamentary words used by the two lawmakers, The Express Tribune reported.

Senator Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader resorted to name-calling after the latter interrupted the senior opposition lawmaker's speech during the televised session.

The Federal Minister got infuriated after being referred to as "dabbu" and hurled a volley of abuses at the PML-N leader. "Can someone switch him off... He'll take some time in learning how to respect others," remarked Khan.

Chaudhry, in response, tried to pounce on to the opponent, but, other lawmakers held him back and calmed the two parties down.

The session was called on Tuesday to discuss the Indian government's decision on Monday to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir and converted the state into a Union Territory with a legislature.

It also split the state by hiving off Ladakh region and making it into a Union Territory without a legislature.