August 23, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-us-Sani 24, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal have decided to jointly move a privilege motion against the law and parliamentary affairs minister, Raza Hayat Hiraj, who they alleged had attacked a woman opposition member inside the house on Friday, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

The sources said signatures were being obtained from the ARD and the MMA leaders and the motion would be submitted to the National Assembly secretariat on Monday morning.

They said PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim, acting PML-N President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman and Fauzia Habib had already signed the motion while Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Liaquat Baloch of the MMA would put their signatures on Saturday.

Through the motion, the ARD and the MMA are demanding strict action against the law and parliamentary affairs minister for using “abusive” language against the women members and “attacking Nahid Khan during the NA session on Friday.”

A meeting of the ARD parliamentary group had been convened on Monday at 4pm to discuss the strategy for the next assembly session.

Meanwhile, secretary general of the Pakistan People’s Party Jahangir Badar has condemned the “attempt to physically assault Nahid Khan” on the floor of the assembly by a “turncoat” and warned the government “to keep all its cronies under control or be ready to face similar treatment”.

In a statement, Mr Badar said, “the Ali Baba assembled his 40 thieves recently and issued instructions.” This incident, he claimed, was the result of those directives. He said the government was irked by the “steadfastness” of the opposition members, who had refused to bow before an individual clad in military uniform.

Mr Badar said these “dirty tricks” would never be able to force the opposition to agree to legitimize “the illegal president” and the general, whose status as the chief of the army staff was also “disputed”. The PPP leader was of the view that never in the history of Parliament, such an incident had taken place. “What could be expected of a government whose minister for parliamentary affairs is totally devoid of parliamentary norms and ethics?”, he added.

Demanding an apology, Mr Badar cautioned the government of “dire consequences” if any such effort was made in future.