ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: The government narrowly escaped a vote defeat in the National Assembly on Thursday after repeated counts of members that provoked a protest walkout by opposition parties
seeking a debate on higher prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the country.
But the ruling coalition used the opposition absence for a while from the house to hurriedly pass the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) (Amendment) Bill that allows the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to recruit its civilian officers without reference to the FPSC.
An embarrassing situation for the government arose during the vote on an adjournment motion tabled by some People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) members for a debate over what they called a 13 per cent, or Rs50 per cylinder, increase in LPG prices.
They pressed for a debate despite a government assurance that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had already taken notice of the matter and ordered a reduction in the LPG prices by the companies concerned.
Several members of the treasury benches initially refused to vote with the ruling coalition when Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain put the question to the house whether the adjournment motion should be admitted for a debate.
Some hesitant members responded to an intense persuasion by some ministers to stand up in their seats to vote with the government but some would sit down again before the count was over, creating a confusion. One ruling party member was seen walking out of the house rather than voting with his coalition.
The first count was tied at 76-76 with the speaker saying he might have to give a casting vote, at which opposition members protested and even contested the count result. But while ministers frantically searched for more members in the lobbies - some ministers who were lower house members and but attending a parallel Senate session in an adjacent hall were also called - the speaker ordered a second count, which was held in the same confusion as the first vote.
By now some more members from both sides of the house had arrived, and the second count rejected the opposition motion by 81 votes to 79 - a difference of only three votes. The opposition again disputed the count and walked out in protest after the speaker refused to order a third count.
Parliamentary sources said an opposition victory would have only admitted the motion for a discussion on what its authors said was a matter of concern for people using LPG mainly for cooking and caused no damage other than a political embarrassment to the ruling coalition for not being able to ensure the presence of enough of its 190 members in the 342-seat house.
Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Amanullah Jadoon repeated the earlier assurance by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi that the LPG prices would be 'revised and...reduced'.
In response to a call attention notice from five members from both the ruling coalition and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Education Minister Javed Ashraf told the house that the National Book Foundation had not published any schoolbooks with pictures, as alleged by the members, of the holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) or of Sahaba-i-Karam (his companions).
He said some errors found in some textbooks long ago had already been removed and there was nothing objectionable in new textbooks. Responding to another call attention notice from five PPP members, Minister of State for Water and Power Amir Muqam said the government had not issued any instructions to the Indus River System Authority against issuing information about the distribution of water flows. The house was later adjourned till 10am on Friday.
