December 12, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 17, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: The opposition has submitted a privilege motion against National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain to the Senate secretariat for constituting what they termed an illegal parliamentary committee on water resources.

Leaders of the opposition said this while speaking at a news conference here on Thursday.

The press conference was also due to have been addressed by late MMA president Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani.

They said the privilege motion, bearing signatures of 14 opposition members, including Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, had been filed under Rule 60 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 1988.

The privilege motion states that the National Assembly speaker, through a notification issued on Oct 10, constituted a parliamentary committee on water resources nominations for which were received by the NA Secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on September 26. “No correspondence or communication ... took place between the speaker and his secretariat and the chairman of the Senate and his secretariat in violation of Rules 35, 36, 37 and 38 of the Parliament Joint Sitting Rules, 1973”, says the motion.

Through the motion, the opposition members stated that the leader of the house in the Senate moved a resolution, not being on the order of the day, in the upper house seeking endorsement of the formation of the same committee after 56 days. The Senate endorsed the formation after rules were suspended to waive the requirement for a notice for the resolution. “This resolution endorses an act which is in violation of Articles 151 and 155 of the constitution and Rules 22(4) of the Parliament Joint Sitting Rules 1973”, says the motion.

It accuses the speaker of having breached the privilege of the parliament besides infringing upon the rights of provincial governments by nominating the committee. It says the speaker has also breached the privilege of the upper house by appointing four senators on the committee which is an “interference in the working, running and functioning of the Senate” in violation of the rules. “The speaker is a stranger to the Senate (and) ... his act of usurping the powers and functions of the Senate has demeaned and brought into ridicule the functioning of the Senate as a house of parliament”, says the motion.

Those who attended the press conference included PPP Senator Raza Rabbani, PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar, MMA Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmed and Senator Sanaullah Baloch of BNM.

The signatories of the motion include: Raza Rabbani, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, Ishaq Dar, Raza Mohammad Raza, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, Enver Baig, Dr Ismail Buledi, Safdar Abbassi, Sardar Latif Khosa, Sajid Mir, Prof Khursheed Ahmed, Liaquat Ali, Sanaullah Baloch and Sajjad Bokhari.