04 July 2004	Sunday	15 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, July 3: It was all brickbats and no bouquets for the new federal cabinet at the start of a Senate session on Saturday for some key ministers' absence that provoked uproars and protests from both the opposition and treasury benches.

Acting Senate chairman Khalilur Rehman promised to raise the matter with Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, whose assumption of office three days ago to replace Zafarullah Khan Jamali too echoed in angry exchanges. Finance Minister and prime minister-in-waiting Shaukat Aziz also came under criticism.

Wasim Sajjad, who acts as leader of the house in the Senate on behalf of the prime minister, blamed a delayed notification of the cabinet members' portfolios on Friday for the absence of ministers.

But the argument did not seem to impress the opposition senators, some of whom pointed to official statements soon after the first meeting of the new cabinet that all ministers of the outgoing cabinet would retain their previous portfolios.

The opposition members also staged a token walkout to protest against the government 'failure' to meet the demands of the Gujrat bar association in its row with the district police officer.

The protest against the ministers' absence - a frequent phenomenon in both houses of parliament - began at the start of the question hour when Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan was not present in the house to answer questions relating to his ministry.

That gave Safdar Abbasi of the People's Party Parliamentarians to question the justification of retaining what he called 'inapt ministers' who, he said, could not deliver and led to Zafarullah Khan Jamali's unceremonious resignation.

Repeated assurances from the chair that some other ministers could answer questions on behalf of their absent colleagues and an argument by Ms Gulshan Saeed of the ruling PML-Q that appointing ministers was her party's internal matter failed to end protests.

Democratic Alliance and PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani called ministerial absences an insult to the upper house and urged the chair not to take the matter casually and to pass strictures against the absentees.

Mr Wasim Sajjad acknowledged that the opposition had 'a valid point' and said he would take up the matter with the government.

The acting chairman said he planned to meet and inform the prime minister later in the day about the situation as he went ahead with the questions.

He said Mr Aziz and Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat had informed him about their inability to attend Saturday's sitting and quoted Mr Aziz as saying in a note that he would not come owing to 'unavoidable' reasons.

Mr Rabbani used the explanations as ammunition to attack Mr Aziz's planned candidature for election to the National Assembly to qualify to be elected later as prime minister.

"He will not have to campaign... There are a lot of angels to ensure his success," the PPP senator said about the finance minister.

Ms Agha Pari Gul of the PML, later speaking on a point of order, asked the chair to do something to ensure ministers' presence in the house.

"It is our insult," she said about their absence.

SHOUTING FURORE: The minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Mohammad Raza Hayat Hiraj, and some opposition senators engaged in a virtual shouting match for about 10 minutes after the minister took objection to what he called a derogatory remark by Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal while referring to Mr Jamali's resignation while questioning the non-appointment of a federal secretary from his province.

Both sides shouted at each other at the top of their voices, ignoring repeated appeals from the chair to stop.

Opposition senators also shouted 'lota, lota' at Mr Hiraj, in a reference to his defection from the PPP after the October 2002 elections.

However, some calm returned to the house when the chair warned to adjourn the house if the rivals continued shouting.

Mr Wasim Sajjad rejected Mr Baloch's charge of discrimination against Balochistan and promised to forward to the prime minister the name of any Baloch qualified for the post of a federal secretary.

Some more heat was in store after the acting chairman allowed opposition and treasury senators to speak on points of order on various issues ranging from Chaudhry Shujaat's short-term premiership to water shortages in Sindh and Balochistan, and security forces' operations in South Waziristan Agency and Kohlu district of Balochistan.

PARTY-PUBLIC OFFICES: Mr Wasim Sajjad had no immediate answer about what he called a legal issue after PPP's Rukhsana Zuberi asked when Chaudhry Shujaat would resign as the PML president as he could not hold the party and elected public offices under the Political Parties Order (PPO), 2002.

The opposition also accuses Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and federal ministers Rao Sikandar Iqbal (defence) and Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (water and power) of violating the PPO by holding both party and government offices at the same time.

Ms Tanveer Khalid of the PML read out a resolution to congratulate Chaudhry Shujaat as prime minister and praise Mr Jamali for his 'selfless services'. The opposition members responded by saying "no, no" but the chair advised Ms Khalid to table the resolution separately rather than raising the matter on a point of order.

The Senate was later adjourned until 6.30pm on Monday.