By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The ruling coalition showed fresh signs of strain on Wednesday as lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party accused their allies in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of conspiring with the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to derail a parliamentary push to rename Islamabad’s international airport after slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The allegations erupted after acting National Assembly speaker Ali Zahid, a PML-N member, abruptly adjourned the session during question hour, citing a lack of quorum raised by PTI lawmaker Iqbal Afridi. The move came just before the agenda reached a calling-attention notice sponsored by First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari and other PPP lawmakers, which sought to press the defence minister on delays in honoring Bhutto’s legacy by renaming the New Islamabad International Airport.
As the proceedings unfolded, PPP lawmaker Abdul Qadir Patel was addressing the house when Afridi interjected to point out the thin attendance. Zahid ordered a count of members.“63 members are present, the house is not in order,” Zahid declared, bringing the session to an early close. PPP members, their microphones cut off, launched a raucous protest on the assembly floor. The disruption capped a session that had barely lasted an hour, fueling suspicions among Bhutto’s party that the adjournment was orchestrated to sidestep the politically sensitive airport issue.
Speaking to reporters afterward, PPP lawmaker Shazia Marri described the episode as “a conspiracy” and suggested collusion between the PML-N and PTI. “This reeks of a conspiracy […] the session ended at 11-11:15, not even an hour had passed, and we are now standing here holding a press conference,” Marri said. She added that Patel had approached the speaker during the chaos. “Qadir Patel also went to the speaker and spoke to him,” Marri said, emphasising that “now that we are standing here with you, it does feel like a conspiracy and intentional.”
Marri expressed dismay at the PML-N’s role, saying, “PTI is already quite non-serious[…]however, we were not expecting this from PML-N.” In a pointed message to her party’s coalition partner, she warned that “given the state of the country, […] the PML-N ought to be more careful.” “Meting out such treatment to a party that is mature and sensible is unacceptable,” Marri said.
Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s daughter, took to the social media platform X to voice her frustration with Zahid’s handling of the session. In her post, she called it a “petty tactic,” writing, “It has become a mockery to constantly suspend the session despite having quorum. Many had heard the speaker was given instructions to avoid my calling attention notice. A very petty tactic.”
The dispute revives a long-standing effort to commemorate Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007 during a campaign rally. The original Islamabad airport was renamed Benazir Bhutto International Airport on June 21, 2008, in her honor. But when the New Islamabad International Airport opened on May 2, 2018, under then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the Aviation Division opted for a neutral name, dropping Bhutto’s reference.
The push for restoration gained momentum earlier this year. In February, PPP leader and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi wrote to the prime minister requesting the change, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. “Governor Kundi emphasised that the old Islamabad airport was originally named Benazir Bhutto International Airport on June 21, 2008, following her assassination in December 2007,” the state-run news agency reported. “However, in April 2018, the Aviation Division renamed the newly constructed airport as New Islamabad International Airport, removing Bhutto’s name,” it added.
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