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ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: Opposition parties kept up a noisy protest in the National Assembly on Friday but Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain refused to bow to their demand to order the production of arrested ARD president Javed Hashmi in the lower house.
However the protest appeared restrained — confined to slogan-chanting in front of the speaker’s rostrum — compared to two previous aggressive demonstrations when the opposition members had also brought banners, which became the cause of scuffles on the first of day of the protest on Monday.
Opposition members continued shouting slogans for about an hour mainly against President Pervez Musharraf and urging the speaker to issue a production order for Mr Hashmi.
“These slogans will not help issue a production order,” the speaker said in one of his several remarks during the protest and asked the protesters not to target institutions such as the General Headquarters, which the opposition accuses of meddling in politics.
“There has been enough of patience (from the chair)... You don’t want any proceedings to be held. Your protest has been registered and you should at least have respect for the chair,” the speaker said at another time.
But there was no word from him on whether he had received the law ministry’s advice that he said on Tuesday he had sought on the opposition demand to order the production of Mr Hashmi.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali watched the protest quietly from his desk where he received numerous members from the treasury benches, many of whom were seen handing him what seemed to be applications or representations.
The speaker continued business of the house despite the slogan-shouting by about 60 opposition members who had formed a semi-circle in front of the rostrum — but did not cross its lower steps as they had done on Monday — as part of their protest against Mr Hashmi’s arrest and their campaign against the Legal Framework Order.
“Go Musharraf go” and “No LFO no”, they chanted as usual besides other slogans including “release Javed Hashmi” and “We will snatch freedom.”
OBJECTION TO GESTURE: Khurshid Afghan, a woman PML-F member from Sindh, accused Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai of making an objectionable “gesture” towards her during the protest.
Mr Achakzai did “like this”, she said while curving her palm to demonstrate the mode of the alleged gesture.
“If he has made the gesture then he should explain why he called me towards himself,” the member said.
“There should be no gestures and there should be no noise,” the speaker quipped.
Mr Achakzai kept quiet at the time while standing among his protesting colleagues but told reporters after the opposition walkout that he had only asked the PML-F member to “come over to us” to join the protest but she declined.
POVERTY DEBATE PUT OFF: The speaker put off until next Monday further debate on the admissibility of an adjournment motion moved by Makhdoom Syed Ahmad Alam Anwar, an independent MNA from Rahim Yar Khan, seeking a debate on rising poverty and unemployment in the country before adjourning the house until 3pm on Monday.
The motion was opposed by parliamentary secretary for finance Omar Ayub Khan, who said the situation had stabilized because of the economic policies pursued by the previous administration of President Musharraf.
He quoted figures from the previous economic survey issued by the finance ministry and the latest report of the State Bank of Pakistan to say that there was “a marginal decline in poverty”.
