ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured the National Assembly on Wednesday that the government has not decided to export wheat from the country, even as the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Bill, 2024 was rushed through the legislature.

This controversial ame­n­dment, which allows the government to remove board members of SOEs based on recommendat­ions from the board nomination committee, had been passed by the Senate the previous week and will become law upon President Asif Ali Zardari’s assent.

“I want to bring it on record before the House that there is no such decision on wheat exports,” the PM said while responding to the opposition leader’s accusations against Inte­r­ior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Earlier, Omar Ayub had accused Mr Naqvi of making hundreds of billions in an alleged wheat import scam during his days as caretaker Punjab chief minister. The opposition leader also expressed concerns about potential wheat export plans. PM Shehbaz, however, said that it was a matter of record that wheat and sugar were first exported and later imported during PTI’s days in power. “Where the billions and trillions of rupees went is a part of history,” he remarked.

The prime minister praised National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq for being generous in giving time to the opposition, contrasting it with PTI’s tenure under Asad Qaiser, who he claimed often denied him permission to speak as opposition leader. Former speaker Asad Qaiser refuted these claims and challenged the premier to verify the facts from record.

Mr Qaiser pointed out that during his term, the opposition leader used to speak for hours and had even been given the floor before the finance minister’s budget speech, a first in the country’s parliamentary history.

He said the National Assembly proceedings were telecast live at the time, insisting that the current parliament faces censorship and has become a mere debating club.

Mr Qaiser also drew attention to a recent raid on the opposition leader’s residence and the harassment of lawmakers. In response, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recalled the arrest of various PML-N lawmakers during the PTI rule, lamenting that Mr Qaiser never issued production orders for them.