PESHAWAR: The provincial assembly erupted into uproar on Monday when the religious affairs minister alleged that the ISPR director general was having breakfast during Ramazan when the earthquake struck.
| Having breakfast? Oh, horrors! Quick, Ethel! My pills! |
NWFP Religious Affairs Minister Maulana Amanullah Haqqani showed to the house a newspaper clipping which reported that Major General Shaukat Sultan was having breakfast when the earthquake rocked NWFP, Kashmir and other parts of the country at 8:51am on October 8. âIt was Ramazan, and the general was not fasting,â said the Religious Affairs minister.
| "And that's why the earthquake happened! It's all his fault!" |
Haqqaniâs remarks triggered uproar in the house, with government and opposition members trading insults.
"Yer mudder wears combat boots!"
"A curse on your moustache!" |
Nighat Yasmeen Orakzai of the PML said that this was a personal matter on no public importance. âHe was not having breakfast openly in the bazaar, but at his own home in Islamabad,â said Orakzai.
| "Don't you people have anything more important to seethe about?" |
âWhether he (Shaukat Sultan) was having it at his home or in the bazaar, it was (during) Ramazan and he was violating the sanctity of the holy month,â said Amanat Shah of the MMA. Opposition Leader Shahzada Gustasip said that Allah had excused ill people from fasting. Gen Sultan could have been ill, he said, urging members not to speculate without proof.
| He was probably sick of the MMA's constant priggish nattering... |
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