25 September 2004	Saturday	09 Shaban 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: The National Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning an attempt by fanatic Jews to set ablaze Al Aqsa mosque in Al Quds.

The resolution, jointly moved by treasury and opposition members and passed by a voice vote, condemned the attempt to desecrate Islam's second most revered place of worship.

The resolution, read out by Minister of State Shahid Akram Bhinder, said: "This house condemns the attempt of a Jew mob to set Al Aqsa Masjid ablaze and damage its portions in the presence of Israeli police."

It called upon the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and other international organizations to take a serious notice of the matter and adopt concrete measures to prevent such incidents in future.

Earlier speaking on a point of order, PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan regretted the attitude of the chair for not allowing debate on important issues like Wana and president's uniform by disallowing adjournment motions while discussions were allowed on trivial matters like newspaper reports based on an MNA's statement.

Raja Parvaiz Ashraf of the People's Party Parliamentarians cited a newspaper report saying that a number of bodies were lying in the open in the suburbs of Wana which could not be buried due to an atmosphere of fear prevailing in the area.

Liaquat Baloch of the MMA drew the attention of the prime minister to a report which suggested that the upper limit of Rs100,000 for income tax exemption would be effective from 2005.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured the house that concession announced through the finance bill would not be withdrawn and any anomaly in the notification would be clarified in the PTV 'Khabarnama'.

The house was assured by the food minister that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan had started purchasing cotton bales from Friday to protect farmers from selling their product on lower rates.

Members, including Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada and Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur, through a call-attention notice, had complained that cotton prices had fallen as low as Rs850 per bale in interior Sindh.

The minister said he would visit cotton growing areas from next week and would redress grievances of farmers on the spot. The members also protested against what they called the government's apathy towards discharge of sewage from Bani Gala, a suburban locality, into the upstream of Rawal Dam, causing contamination of water and other health hazards.

The movers were M.P. Bhandara, Abdul Qadir Jamaluddin Al Gilani, Riaz Fatyana and Sardar Bahadur Ahmed Khan Sihar. The minister for environment assured the house that the government was alive to the problem and had issued notices to about 500 residents of Bani Gala. Some of them were summoned who gave an undertaking that they would alter the channel of their waste water pipes.

Zamarud Khan of the People's Party Parliamentarians called for granting property tax exemption to five-marla houses in cantonment areas after the exemption provided to other residents in Punjab.

Rao Ajmal Khan demanded that the government should entertain within 15 days every application for the installation of tubewells and also lower electricity rates for tubewells by 33 to 50 per cent.

QUORUM: The quorum problem continued to haunt the National Assembly on the last day of its current session on Friday, when despite the presence of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, treasury benches failed to complete the quorum thrice pointed out by the opposition.

Consequently, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain was constrained to read out the prorogation order signed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf. During the proceedings, the treasury benches sought an apology from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi, as he had done in the Senate on Thursday, for writing a letter to legislators.

Mr Niazi readily obliged Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, by saying: "If my colleagues are as much hurt by my letter which I believe was (written) in good faith I tender my apologies for hundred times."

The house first faced the quorum problem during a debate on a call-attention notice sought to be moved by some treasury members. Khawaja Asif of the PML-N pointed out the quorum which was not taken in good taste by the speaker who said: "You are not doing any good for smooth functioning of the house."

Mr Asif promptly replied: "Mr Speaker, you too had done no good yesterday when the treasury benches despite short of required numbers were bailed out on a motion sought to be moved by the opposition."

The opposition, in the meanwhile, had left the house to force the treasury benches to complete the quorum. The speaker's announcement that quorum was complete with 90 members being in the house was challenged by Khawaja Asif who claimed that only 76 MNAs were present.

The speaker again ordered the ringing of the bells for five minutes which was followed by another announcement that the number of MNAs sitting in the house had surged to 98.