ISLAMABAD, June 6: A journalists’ protest against new government curbs on the electronic media disrupted the opening of the National Assembly’s last budget session on Wednesday and then put them virtually in the dock over allegedly provoked scuffles and slogan-chanting in the press gallery.

The house set aside the question-hour and the other agenda for the day to debate the unprecedented incident in Pakistan’s parliamentary history for hours before Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain adjourned the proceedings until 10am on Thursday.

But the speaker gave no indication about when he would give a ruling over the matter that, he said, had “worried him too much” but praised suggestions for an amicable solution, though some ruling coalition members called for action against not only the protesting journalists but also opposition members who joined the slogan-chanting for allegedly violating the sanctity of the house.

The journalists started with only a token walkout from the press gallery at the start of the evening session to protest against a controversial presidential ordinance issued on Monday and instructions given by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) two days earlier imposing new restrictions on private television channels, but the subsequent developments led to a boycott of the whole sitting.

The opposition members were pressing for a debate on these moves as well as a crackdown against opposition activists in Punjab and three government ministers were negotiating with the journalists when scuffles broke out in the press gallery.

Protest leaders said that while their negotiations with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi and ministers of state Tariq Azeem Khan (Information and Broadcasting) and Shahid Akram Bhinder (Law and Justice) were proceeding positively, trouble was provoked in the press gallery by some non-journalists sent by the Press Information Department (PID) to foil the walkout.

These people, according to the protest leaders, started scuffles with some journalists who went back to the press gallery to ask them to join the walkout.

Eventually more journalists went in, chanting “we want freedom” and “and we don’t accept oppressive laws” and eventually pushed the perceived outsiders out of the press gallery.

There was no immediate information about the exact identity of these people, but Mr Azeem denied in the house that any non-journalists were issued passes to attend the session.

In an apparent move to let the situation calm down, the chair adjourned the house for half an hour, but the slogan-chanting from the press gallery and by opposition members in the house continued for some time while the ruling coalition members sat quietly at their desks.

After the proceedings resumed, a furious Speaker Hussain sought advice from the ruling coalition and opposition members about what he should do against what he called violation of the dignity of the house of a kind he did not know had happened before in Pakistan’s parliamentary history.

Most opposition members who spoke in the debate supported a suggestion from PPP member Aitzaz Ahsan to form a house committee of equal members from the opposition and government benches to investigate the matter and make recommendations.

But most ruling coalition members, including Mr Niazi, former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Law and Justice Minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar, urged the speaker to use his powers as the guardian of the house rather seek advice of a committee.

Mr Niazi was unhappy more with the opposition members who he said had encouraged the journalists’ action by their slogan-chanting and asked the speaker to suspend them for the whole or part of the present session.

He said media managements should also be asked to send only those journalists for parliamentary reporting who understood the dignity of the house.

Mr Aitzaz Ahsan, like most other opposition members, voiced their solidarity with the protesting journalists and called for a probe into the circumstances of this ‘big event’ by the joint house committee proposed by him rather than resorting to a unilateral action.