LAHORE, Oct 20: The opposition leaders in the Punjab Assembly, Qasim Zia and Rana Sanaullah, demanded the government on Monday that it should constitute a committee to probe the car stopping incident after which a police constable was booked.

There was a scene of turmoil at the Punjab Assembly where the opposition members put forward this demand, which the treasury benches termed a non-issue. The proceedings were anything but smooth, though the government and opposition held a pre-session meeting to negotiate the smooth conduct of affairs.

Mr Zia asked the government to form a committee in the house, headed by the provincial law minister, to look into the incident of stopping of a general’s car with tinted glass.

“The chief minister hardly spares a day without boasting of his efforts for ensuring the rule of law, but he has failed to bring his words and deeds in conformity in the case of the suspension and transfers of the entire police staff of Model Town,” he said.

He urged the government “to take heart and initiate a thorough probe into the affair,” pledging that the opposition would extend every cooperation in this regard.

Responding to Mr Zia’s suggestion, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat claimed that the opposition was trying to create an issue out of nothing. The constable overstepped his mandate and had been dealt with according to law, he said, and explained that “the car he checked had a tainted strip on the top of its windscreen.”

“In some of the models, such a strip is built-in and cannot be removed. In spite of the driver’s explaining the position and presence of women in the car, the constable insisted on removing the strip there and then. This resulted in a brawl between them after which law took its course,” he said.

As this explanation failed to convince the opposition, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah lashed out at the officials for what he described “coward handling” of the crisis. Had the matter been dealt according to law, a complaint should have been lodged with the SHO, DSP or SP concerned. Even if the constable was to be arrested for his offence, he should have been taken to court of law rather than to the power that be, he said.

“The opposition is not defending the constable or his alleged misbehaviour, but only wants to make sure that law is not abused in favour of the powerful. It wants to form a house committee to ascertain the facts,” he averred. However, the provincial law minister iterated his stand and refused to budge an inch on the issue.

Earlier, Mr Sanaullah criticized the government for its “failures” due to which there was a confusion in the country. “This confusion has been caused by one man, who is trying to hijack the whole system. No government can succeed without good governance, which is not possible without democracy,” he said.

Iterating that the opposition was not interested in sabotaging the set-up, the PML-N head said: “It wants that the government starts ruling rather than remain subservient to the wishes of one man.”

The law minister, who was representing the government, insisted that everything was fine and the opposition was just trying to covert its wishes into arguments.

On this occasion, the opposition benches chanted slogans “go Musharraf go,” and walked out.

Prior to this, the journalists covering the session observed a token boycott to mark their protest over the death of their colleague, Pir Bakhsh Barohi, in Sindh, and no arrest of murderers of another, Raja Ijaz, belonging to Lahore.

The law minister assured them that Mr Ijaz’s killers would be arrested, and condoled the death of a reporter in Sindh. The session was adjourned till 10am Tuesday (today).