PTI lawmakers return to parliament with noisy protest.

ISLAMABAD -- Ending almost a year-long boycott, opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senators returned to the joint sitting of parliament on Monday with their signature noisy protest, causing disruptions to the proceedings as both the Senate opposition leader and a minister accused each other of causing chaos in the country.

For the first time since assuming the office in April last year, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was seen struggling in running the house smoothly as members from both sides continued sloganeering against each other despite warnings from the chair.

Speaker Ashraf on a couple of times was seen losing temper when he warned the opposition senators that they might also not be allowed to speak if they continued interrupting Minister for Communications Asad Mehmood's speech. He taunted the PTI members by saying, 'end your protest now as you have marked your attendance before someone'.

The PTI senators, carrying placards inscribed with anti-government slogans, gathered in front of the speaker's dais and raised full-throated slogans soon after entering the hall and again when Mr Mehmood in his speech named the sons of Imran Khan, asking the PTI chief to bring them to the country and get them enrolled in some Madressah, if he really wanted to turn the country into a Madina-like state.

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In their speeches dominated by political rhetoric, Opposition Leader in the Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem of PTI and Mr Mehmood accused each other of violating the Constitution and causing chaos in the country.

PTI Senators Waleed Iqbal, Fawzia Arshad and Saifullah Abro were the most active among those leading the protest.

During the hard-hitting speech of Mr Mehmood, who is the son of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the assembly hall kept on being echoed with slogans both from the treasury benches and the opposition side.

Though Dr Waseem lashed out at the government for allegedly running away from the Constitution, running a campaign against judges and politically victimising the PTI, he delivered his speech in somewhat conciliatory tone. He did not surprisingly utter a single word about the alleged corruption of PPP or PML-N leaders. He only criticised the rulers for their present policies, particularly for bringing the country at the verge of economic collapse.

The PTI senator then...