21 April 2005	Thursday	11 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 20: A veiled woman stranger intruded into the National Assembly on Wednesday while it was in session, sparking a security alarm and concerns for future precautions. Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain ordered an inquiry into the incident and promised to consult political parties on devising an effective method to identify the women members wearing face veils, most of whom belong to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

The incident led to a mini debate on how to identify veiled members of the house before letting them in, with suggestions ranging from reserving a separate entrance for them to requiring them to go through the modern iris or retinal scanning.

Parliamentary sources said the intruder, who apparently carried only a visitor’s pass entitling her to watch the house proceedings from the visitors’ gallery, had been handed over to the intelligence staff for interrogation.

Mehnaz Rafi of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League was the first to complain about the presence of a stranger in the house after talking to the intruder who had taken a seat next to her on the treasury back benches.

The identity of the woman was not immediately known, but Mrs Rafi said she had told her she was a niece of an unspecified member of the house and had come with an application against the arrest of her husband about two weeks ago.

“When I asked her as who she was, the stranger could not give a proper reply and after that I called a security man who took her out of the house,” Mrs Rafi said.

MMA member Hafiz Hussain Ahmed suggested the allocation of a separate entrance where women security staff could check the identity of the women members.

Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mahmud Khan Achakzai asked whether face veils could be replaced by the Iranian-style hijab that did not hide the face of a woman.

Among 70 women members in the National Assembly, only 12 of the MMA and one of the People’s Party Parliamentarians wear burqa.