ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused on Thursdaya Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s MNA of electricity theft, following which the opposition leaders protested and walked out of the National Assembly.
Khawaja Asif in today’s session while accusing a certain PTI MNA said that 91 percent electricity theft is carried out from Jandokhel feeders, which also lie within the PTI lawmaker’s constituency.
“Thieves holding out protests is tantamount to ridiculing the system,” said the defence minister.
The leader in question, PTI lawmaker Ayesha Gulalai responded to the federal minister’s name-calling, saying that people spend billions of rupees in taxes still they face the menace of power outage.
The feeders where the recovery rate is 98 percent, still face 14 hours of loadshedding, she said. Oppposition leader Khursheed Shah was also incensed over the comments, asking Asif to give justification for the electricity theft in provincial capital Lahore.
“What happened to the promises of ending loadshedding within months?” said Shah.
Opposition members also chanted slogans of ‘thief, thief’ against the ruling PML-N’s leadership, which further fueled the contention.
Shah asked Asif to take back his remarks while PTI members asked for an apology. When the opposition’s demands were not met then the members walked out of the House.