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| May 28, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1426 |
Adjournment motions submitted by opposition By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, May 27: Opposition parties have submitted adjournment motions to the Senate and National Assembly secretariats for discussion on various issues, including the attack by US troops on Pakistani tribal areas. Parliamentary Secretary of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy Izhar Amrohvi told Dawn that the motions had been signed by members of People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), Balochistan National Party (BNP) and Awami National Party (ANP).
Mr Amrohvi said eight opposition members had moved an adjournment motion in the Senate under Rule 74 of the Rules and Procedure for Conduct of Business in the Senate 1988 on the incident in which the US carried out an air attack on Pakistani tribal areas.
The motion states: “The media has reported that the US-led troops had killed at least five tribesmen belonging to Lawara Mandi in North Waziristan Agency on the night of May 21. The military operation was reportedly launched in retaliation following an attack on a camp of the US-led troops at Peepli area of Afghanistan’s Paktika province in which a number of US and Afghan troops were killed or wounded. Soon afterwards, a number of US Apache helicopters and planes rushed to the site of retaliatory action and allegedly entered Pakistani territory.
“Such US-led military actions on the pretext of chasing suspected terrorists has become a routine matter and is alarming for the country’s security.”
The motion has been signed by Opposition Leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani, Ishaq Dar (PML-N), Prof Khurshid Ahmed (MMA), Sadia Abbasi (PML-N), Dr Abdullah Riar (PPP), Dr Safdar Abbasi (PPP), Enver Baig (PPP) and Sanaullah Baloch of the BNP.
Mr Amrohvi said a similar motion had been moved in the National Assembly by Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Mumtaz Matiana, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Syed Khurshid Shah.
The ARD parliamentary secretary said five senators had submitted an adjournment motion seeking a debate on a report of the Amnesty International (AI) on supply and manufacturing of equipment used in torture by Pakistan.
The motion states: “It has been published in media that human rights watchdog, the Amnesty International, is probing Pakistan’s involvement in global supply of equipment that could inflict torture and be used in inhuman treatment of prisoners.
“The AI is also examining the legislative and administrative mechanism by which the government controls or prohibits manufacturing and export of equipment at the local, regional and international levels”.
This motion has been signed by Raza Rabbani, Ishaq Dar, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Sardar Latif Khosa and Sanaullah Baloch. Similar motion has been moved by MNAs Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Nayyar Bokhari, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and Syed Naveed Qamar.
Mr Amrohvi said the opposition members had also moved adjournment motions in the parliament on reports that the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had awarded a Rs14 billion contract for raising of Mangla Dam to a firm owned by a former federal minister despite noting serious flaws in the design.
The motion states: “It has been published in media that a company owned by former federal minister Abdur Razzaq Dawood and his Chinese partners had got Rs14 billion contract for raising Mangla Dam by employing a fraudulent method and Wapda officials obliged them despite noting serious flaws in the design that might damage the spillways of the dam.
“The Senate standing committee members were told that a foreign consultant, who had originally designed Mangla Dam at the time of its construction some decades ago, had already issued a warning.”
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