10 March 2005	Thursday	28 Muharram 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 9: Opposition parties in the National Assembly staged a walkout on Wednesday in protest against Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain for not issuing an order to produce detained ARD President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in the house.

Opposition members said that by not issuing the order which was his prerogative under rules of procedure, the speaker had failed to fulfil his duty as the custodian of the house.

Taking the floor on a point of order, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal President Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: "Since long the seat beside me has been lying vacant as PML-N parliamentary leader Javed Hashmi has been behind bars for 16 months."

He said as the custodian of the house it was the duty of the speaker to protect the rights of members and added that the speaker should have issued a production order in favour of Mr Hashmi to maintain the prestige of the house.

He said Makhdoom Javed Hashmi was a respectable member who had been falsely implicated through coercive and illegal proceedings. When the session began, the speaker had to adjourn proceedings for about 50 minutes for lack of quorum.

The debate on the production order was initiated by PML-N Vice-President Tehmina Daultana, who while, speaking on a point of order, said that the chair had failed to issue a production order for Mr Hashmi who had been a candidate for the office of the leader of the house.

Khurshid Shah of the People's Party Parliamentarians suggested that the speaker should have used his authority under rule 90 and issued the production order. He said the speaker should have done his duty without caring what action the government would have taken on the order.

At this stage, the opposition members stood up and started chanting slogans 'production order jaree karo'. The speaker, who had kept his cool throughout the debate, warned the members against chanting slogans and pointed out that Javed Hashmi had moved the court for bail.

The entire opposition comprising ARD, MMA and other groups staged a token walkout for a few minutes. Later, an adjournment motion sought to be moved by Syed Naveed Qamar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Fauzia Wahab, Chaudhry Manzoor and Raja Parvaiz Ashraf of the People's Party Parliamentarians drew the attention of the government to a report suggesting that out of 100 districts in the country 72 lacked food security.

Another adjournment motion was moved by Safdar Shakir and others through which the government was asked to take action against smuggling of Pakistani children to the UAE where they were used as camel jockeys.

Kunwar Khalid Younus of the MQM was not allowed to speak on a point of order against the detention of a former MNA Salma Ahmed by NAB in Karachi. The speaker reserved his ruling on a privilege motion sought to be moved by MMA MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali who said a senior journalist had falsely accused him of instigating attacks on members of the Ismaili community in Chitral.

He said the MMA was a political alliance which believed in resolving issues in a peaceful manner and had never been involved in acts of violence and, therefore, the accusations against the alliance for its opposition to the Aga Khan were baseless and breached his privilege.

Minister of State for Law and Justice Raza Hayat Hiraj opposed the motion on the ground that since it was based on a newspaper column it did not come under the interpretation of breach of privilege.

Chaudhry Hussain said: "I will study both opinions and announce my ruling later." Mian Riaz Pirzada of the ruling PML referred to rejection of bail of Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat by the Supreme Court and accused NAB of targeting politicians belonging to the Seraiki belt and sparing those from upper Punjab. Gayan Chand Singh spoke about police failure to arrest rapists of a 12-year-old girl in Narowal.