December 30, 2003	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 6, 1424

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LAHORE, Dec 29: The provincial government failed to get two bills approved from the Punjab Assembly on Monday as the House had to be adjourned for lack of quorum.

The quorum was pointed out by an MMA member while the House had taken up adjournment motions in the afternoon. Almost all the opposition members, including those from the PPP and the PML-N, had gone out when the quorum was pointed out.

When the treasury failed to bring enough of its members back into the House, the speaker adjourned the session for Wednesday afternoon.

The treasury members are scheduled to leave for Islamabad for a meeting with President Gen Musharraf on Tuesday. The president is expected to take them into confidence over the government-MMA agreement on the controversial LFO and his decision to seek a vote of confidence as demanded by the alliance of the six religious parties.

The bills which were to be put to voting for approval included the Punjab Education Foundation Bill, 2003, and the New Murree Development Authority Bill, 2003.

Attack condemned: The Punjab Assembly adopted on Monday a resolution condemning bids on President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s life amid walkout by the opposition against what it termed as the provincial government’s inability to arrest the deteriorating law and order situation and ensure safety of the people.

“The attack on the (life of) president is a conspiracy of the enemies of Islam and Pakistan. We condemn it in the strongest words and are grateful to God for having saved his life. As elected representatives of the people of the province, we also support President Musharraf’s national and international policies for combating terrorism,” the resolution, read by Law Minister Raja Basharat, said.

Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi was also present at the time of adoption of the resolution.

Before leading the opposition out of the House, its leader Qasim Zia called for resignation of the provincial government for failing to control lawlessness in the province.

“The government should accept its responsibility and quit as both the last two attempts on the life of Gen Musharraf (in a span of 11 days) have been made in Punjab which amply reflects its inability to arrest the worsening law and order situation,” Mr Zia said while speaking on the resolution before the House was called to vote on it.

The PPP leader was of the opinion that the resolution tabled by the treasury was in effect no-confidence against the provincial government, the prime minister and the security agencies.

“We’re against all forms of terrorism at any level. But we must be told who is responsible for checking it? Obviously the provincial government. Resolutions are not enough to control or prevent terrorism. We have passed such resolutions before. But what has happened? Nothing. Such incidents do happen in countries that are not run in accordance with their constitution,” he said.

In an obvious reference to the abduction of and torture on deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan allegedly by the secret agencies for several days earlier this year, Mr Zia said the government, including the chief minister, was not prepared to acknowledge that such a thing had actually happened. “Now they’ve come up with a resolution because it involves the chief of the army staff (COAS),” he said.

He was also critical of the government for contacting the opposition MPAs to invite them for a meeting with the president on Tuesday. Censuring the PPP (Patriots) legislators for having changed loyalties, he claimed that all efforts to make his other colleagues switch sides would fail.

CHIEF MINISTER: Speaking on the resolution, Mr Elahi said the attacks on the president would leave far reaching effects on the economy of Pakistan and soil its country perception abroad.

He said the attack was a work of anti-Pakistan elements who wanted to destabilize the country. “But they must know that we are after them and closing in on them.”

He accused the PPP and the Al-Zulfikar for having introduced terrorism in the country. “Al-Zulfikar remained actively involved for seven years in terrorist activities in the country.”

Mr Elahi defended the police, saying they had done a good job despite shortage of equipment and manpower. The government had announced a package of Rs1.5 billion to provide equipment to the police to make them more efficient and effective, he added.

He said the government-MMA agreement on the LFO and the passage of the 17th amendment to the constitution would strengthen the country, institutions and democracy. The present assemblies would complete their five-year term.

“The president has also been saying this since the inception of the elected assemblies,” he said.

WALKOUT: The opposition legislators ended their boycott of the proceedings in less than an hour but not before the law minister had refused to send somebody to bring them back on the insistence of the MMA members.

“They have chosen to go out themselves despite the fact that the resolution was prepared in their presence. The opposition leader had assured us in the meeting with the Speaker that they would neither oppose the resolution nor stage a walkout. They said they would remain silent. By walking out of the House, they are encouraging terrorists,” Raja Basharat said.

Speaker Afzal Sahi also endorsed his views, saying there was no need to bring the opposition members back at least for the day’s proceedings. “There was no need to invite the opposition leader to speak on the resolution as nobody had opposed its tabling, yet I gave the floor to him as agreed during the meeting earlier in the day.”

On the refusal of the government not to call the opposition back into the assembly, the MMA members also staged a token walkout for a few moments to protest against the “violation of the traditions of the House.”