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| 30 March 2004 | Tuesday | 08 Safar 1425 |
Opposition submits nine adjournment motions in Senate
ISLAMABAD, March 29: Members of the opposition Democratic Alliance have submitted a heavy agenda to the Senate Secretariat comprising a number of adjournment motions, resolutions and call attention notices for the next session, sources told Dawn here on Monday.
The sources said the opposition members had submitted in all nine adjournment motions, five call attention notices and two resolutions on various issues of national and international importance.
One adjournment motion submitted by seven senators seeks discussion on the statement of State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in which he had stated that the United States wanted Pakistan to scale back its missile programme.
The opposition members, the sources said, considered this statement an open threat to Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes and wanted clarification from the government.
Another motion, signed by the same number of members, has sought adjournment of normal proceedings of the house to debate the US State Department's country report on the State of Human Rights in Pakistan.
Both the above motions have been signed by PPP Senator Raza Rabbani, PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar, Sardar Mahtab Ahmed Khan (PML- N), Asfandyar Wali (ANP), Amanullah Khan Kanrani (JWP), Sanaullah Baloch (BNP) and Dr Safdar Abbasi (PPP).
The third adjournment motion, moved by Raza Rabbani, Dr Safdar Abbassi and Enver Baig and Raza Mohammad Raza (PkMAP) has sought a discussion on the report of the US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz which stated that "Pakistan was failing to cooperate with the US in its battle to crush the Taliban despite Washington's restraint over Islamabad's nuclear proliferation scandal."
In the report, the US official had warned that Islamabad was testing "Washington's patience" on the issue. Four opposition members have submitted an adjournment motion seeking a debate on a report that Pakistan's defence expenditure, which amounted to 54.5 per cent of the total annual allocation, has outpaced development expenditure which stood at 35.5 per cent during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
The motion has been signed by Raza Rabbani, Dr Safdar Abbassi, Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan and Sanaullah Baloch. The sources said the opposition members believed that this was a matter of general public importance as the latest statistics, submitted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the ministry of finance, suggested that the defence expenditure in the six months amounted to Rs87.319 billion against development expenditure of Rs56.8 billion despite the fact that both defence and development had been allocated Rs160 billion each for the full fiscal year.
Through an adjournment motion, signed by six members, the opposition has sought a debate on the reports that Saudi Arabia has gifted three exceptionally expensive Mercedez Benz cars fitted with high-tech gadgets and electronic equipment which secure the occupants even against high intensity explosives.
These vehicles, according to the reports, would most likely be inducted into the fleet of cars reserved for Gen Pervez Musharraf. The motion has been signed by PPP Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar, PkMAP Senator Raza Mohammad Raza, JWP Senator Amanullah Khan Kanrani, BNP Senator Sanaullah Baloch and PPP Senator Dr Safdar Abbassi.
Another adjournment motion, moved by PPP senators Raza Rabbani, Dr Safdar Abbassi and Latif Khosa and BNM Senator Mohammad Aslam Buledi, has sought a debate on the recent visits of First Vice-President of Iran Dr Muhammad Reza Aref and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The Democratic Alliance has also sought a discussion on law and order situation in the country. Another adjournment motion, signed by PPP Senators Raza Rabbani, Sajjad Bukhari and Safdar Abbassi and BNP Senator Sanaullah Baloch, is about the installation of close circuit video cameras at different public places in the capital. The cameras are being installed at a cost of Rs3.3 million under a new security plan to monitor vehicular movement.
Talking to Dawn, ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi said the agenda had been submitted by the opposition as it had decided to take active part in the parliament's proceedings.
He said the opposition had taken this decision keeping in view the one-year performance of the government which failed to bring any business in the parliament.
He said the record showed that it was the opposition which provided most of the business in both the houses of the parliament in the past over one year despite their 12-month long protest on the LFO. He regretted that the Senate chairman killed several important motions and resolutions in his chamber.
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