PESHAWAR, Sept 2: The treasury benches in the provincial assembly unanimously adopted an opposition’s resolution disapproving a finance bill here on Tuesday.

Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, who was presiding over the session, tried his best to restrain the treasury lawmakers from becoming a puppet in the hands of the opposition, but he failed.

Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians tabled two separate resolutions demanding the disapproval of two Finance Ordinances No. VI and VII, 2003.

He submitted his resolution on Aug 22 under the Article 111 of the Constitution and demanded disapproval of the two ordinances.

After his arguments, he sought voting on resolution. The chair sought the opinion of the House which unanimously disapproved the NWFP Finance (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2003. Not a single MPA from treasury benches opposed the resolution.

Mr Khan read out his resolution in haste and didn’t give time to the MPAs to ponder on its contents. He thanked the entire House, particularly the treasury benches, for adopting his resolution unanimously and disapproving Finance Ordinance No. VI, 2003. So, he withdrew his second resolution to avoid more debate on the issue.

Later, opposition MPAs hailing from the tobacco producing area staged a walkout against the attitude of the government and its MPAs towards the tobacco farmers of Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Malakand and Mansehra. They were of the view that companies were buying tobacco from those farmers who possessed a chit issued by the minister for excise and taxation, MMA MPAs or other leaders.

MPAs Mukhtar Ali, Amir Rehman, Dr Salim Khan, Abdul Majid Khan from Swabi district, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha and Jamshed Khan from Malakand, Amanat Ali Shah from Mardan and Israr Khan Gandapur from Dera Ismail Khan accused the MMA government of hoodwinking the poor farmers. They said the tobacco companies had completed their target and now they were buying surplus produce.

They claimed that the minister for excise and taxation and his staff were issuing chits to the farmers to sell their tobacco. On the Shergarh tobacco depot, people were being forced to buy chits for the disposal of their tobacco, they said.

“After Sept 15, tobacco companies would stop buying of tobacco as they had already crossed the limit of their quota. The farmers are hankering after their MPAs to help them sell the tobacco. Some of the companies’ agents want to buy their produce at half the price,” they alleged.

Mohammad Ali Shah said that the farmers hailing from the flood-affected villages were constrained to sell their produce on throw-away prices. The government was doing nothing for the poor farmers, he said.

The House also made a lengthy debate on the contract policy of the present government and urged the government to regularize the services of its contract employees, who had been serving in the social sector for the past several years.

Anwar Kamal Marwat of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Mushtaq Ghani of the PML-Q, Abdul Akbar of the PPP, Nasreen Khattak of the PPP-S, Kashif Azam of the MMA, Dr Salim Khan, Qazi Mohammad Asad Khan and Saeed Khan (PML-Q), Sikandar Sherpao, Jamshed Khan, Arshad Khan and Sardar Israr Gandapur (PPP-S) and others spoke on the contract policy and termed its implementation a violation of basic human rights.

They said the policy was introduced in 1985, but the previous governments had regularized the services of the employees in 1987, 1988, 1989 and in 1996.