ISLAMABAD, May 18: The opposition in the National Assembly on Wednesday protested against a ruling given by the speaker on Tuesday that a member or group of members violating discipline of the house could be disqualified. Also on Wednesday, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain decided to expunge certain remarks made by a member which, he said, could damage the discipline of armed forces. Reading out his ruling, the speaker said the remarks were tantamount to politicizing a sensitive institution of the country.

He said when a law was passed by the house it became binding on all members and since it had passed the twin-office bill by majority, criticizing it was illegal. The speaker read out paragraphs from Tuesday’s speech of PPP lawmaker Naheed Khan which, he said, appeared to be instigating the lower cadre against senior army officers. These were uncalled for and hence expunged, the speaker said.

The house passed the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registrations (amendment) Act 2005, allowing the deputy commissioner of Islamabad capital territory to issue declaration for newspapers and news agencies and books registration.

The bill replaces the word DCO by DC in case of the federal capital where local councils have not yet been constituted. Earlier, Nayyar Bokhari of the PPP pointed out that the constitution was clear about how and who could be disqualified from the membership of parliament. He said the constitution also laid down conditions for taking part in active politics and certainly prohibited the armed forces from indulging in politics.

He said members of this house were not answerable even to a court for what they said on the floor, leaving alone any other institution. Naheed Khan challenged the chair to point out any single word in her Tuesday’s speech which was objectionable in the eyes of law and the constitution.

She said it was her right to point out that a president-in-uniform presiding over a political party meeting was against the constitution.

“We are not afraid of the threat of disqualification and will not relent in future either if the president continues to suggest that Benazir Bhutto has no role in the country’s politics.”

Babar Ghauri of the MQM recalled that although Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari was an elected president he too used to chair party meetings. What was wrong if the same thing was done by Gen Pervez Musharraf, he asked.

Mr Ghauri’s remarks caused an uproar among opposition lawmakers who stood up to reply to the argument. Syed Khurshid Shah of the PPP said that if an army chief presided over a political meeting it would be pointed out by the house.

Through an adjournment motion, Liaquat Baloch of the MMA invited the attention of the house to the gang-rape of a girl student in Sialkot who had been kidnapped and criminally assaulted by her captors for 37 days and later when she approached police they also assaulted her in the police station. Mr Baloch said that instead of providing relief to the poor girl by arresting the culprits, the police tried to give the incident a different colour.

MMA’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said a case of kidnapping of four minor girls in Gujranwala had also been reported and the girls had not been recovered yet. Responding to the motion, minister of state Dr Shahzad Wasim assured the house that the government had not only initiated a high-level inquiry into the Sialkot case but had also fixed responsibility on some individuals.

Khawaja Asif, PML-N MNA from Sialkot, denied that any investigation had been conducted or responsibility fixed against anyone. Mr Baloch said the police order had concentrated powers regarding posting of police officials into the hands of the federal government and added that the case should be taken up by the interior ministry.

The issue of sale of Khosgi sugar mills by the Fauji Foundation allegedly at a throwaway price was raised through a call-attention notice but the matter was dropped when the parliamentary secretary for defence told the house that the Fauji Foundation had told the defence ministry that no irregularity had been found in the deal.

The parliamentary secretary said the Fauji Foundation had also quoted a letter issued by former law minister Sharifuddin Pirzada in 1980 whereby the foundation had been declared an autonomous body and out of the jurisdiction of the ministry.

M.P. Bhandara, who was the co-mover of the motion, said the army was not a creator but was a creation of parliament and similarly the Fauji Foundation was part of the armed forces.

The speaker termed the words used by the minority MNA uncalled for and reserved his ruling on the matter. Through a point of order, Chaudhry Manzoor of the PML-N informed the house that the situation in Okara was getting out of control as Rangers and law-enforcement agencies were not allowing harvesting of wheat. He said if the government did not intervene the situation might turn worse.

The speaker directed the defence ministry to take notice of the situation and submit a report in the house. Treasury member Malik Farooq Azam Khan alleged irregularities and nepotism in recent employments at the Islamia University, Bahawalpur and the speaker referred the matter to the house committee on education.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed raised the issue of damage caused to the RCD Highway between Nushki and Dalbandin in Balochistan due to torrential rains and said the road had been wiped out causing a loss of millions of rupees to the exchequer.

The speaker directed the government to take immediate notice of the complaint. Mohammad Hussain Mehnati of the MMA asked the government to immediately reduce petroleum prices in the wake of a decline in per barrel price to $48 from $58 in international market.

Mian Fazal Karim of the PML-N asked the government to restore the former practice of allocating annual development funds for every MP and raised the amount to Rs10 million from Rs.5 million. Later, the house was prorogued on the order of President Pervez Musharraf.