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| June 22, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1426 |
Attempt for reconciliation shot down
LAHORE, June 21: The opposition on Tuesday boycotted the Punjab Assembly session, and there were rumours that a delegation of theirs would call on the Lahore High Court chief justice to apprise him of how Speaker Afzal Sahi was allegedly trampling over the Constitution and the house rules of procedure.
While conjectures made the rounds, an MMA MPA entered the house and handed the speaker a chit with names of six opposition legislators he wanted included in a committee for talks with the government to resolve an ongoing crisis gripping the budget session.
The speaker announced the six names along with the names of six ministers who would represent the government.
But a ray of hope created by the move soon turned out to be a mirage as both the PPP and the PML-N distanced themselves from the committee. Qasim Zia and Rana Sanaullah separately told reporters that as parliamentary leaders it was their prerogative to decide whether or not to hold talks with the government, and in case of talks who should represent the two major opposition parties.
On the other hand, Law Minister Raja Basharat said the ruling party would continue to perform its duties even if the opposition stuck to its boycott decision. However, he kept the doors open for future talks, promising that any overture coming from the opposition would be reciprocated.
Rana Sanaullah said his expulsion from the house was illegal and without lawful authority because Speaker Sahi had ordered it on the basis of a resolution adopted by treasury benches. Ruling party’s resolutions could not be made the basis of action against any legislator, he argued.
He demanded that the ruling thus given be withdrawn and deleted from the official records.
In his opinion the case of the remaining nine MPAs’ expulsion was rather different as the speaker had taken action against them using his own powers.
The opposition respects the powers of the speaker and his rulings, said Rana Sana, indicating that action against nine of his colleagues could be “reluctantly digested” though it would still be called illegal.
Qasim Zia said his party had not given any MMA leader the authority to nominate who should hold talks with the ruling party on behalf of the PPP.
Then he set a condition which will be difficult for the speaker to meet. The condition is that Mr Sahi should talk to the parliamentary party leaders of the PPP and the PML-N.
This is an issue which has already poisoned relations between the opposition and the speaker. The speaker doesn’t accept Qasim Zia, Rana Sanaullah or Asghar Gujjar as parliamentary leaders.
Qasim Zia questioned the sincerity of the ruling party in resolving the crisis, saying it had not contacted even the PPP MPs nominated by the speaker.
As the deadlock continues, the government is poised to get the local government ordinance passed in the assembly on Wednesday (today).
The ordinance has brought drastic changes to the local government system. In future, the nazims belonging to the opposition parties will find it hard to survive. They will be kept at the mercy of the chief minister, with the non-conformists ready to be shown the door.
The opposition should be present in the house to highlight the changes made to the law, but it will not participate in the Wednesday session, as things stand.
The local government system has been included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, and it cannot be amended, altered or repealed without the approval of the president, argued Rana Sanaullah and Rana Aftab. When no change was possible under the rules, the opposition would not like to be a party to Wednesday’s proceedings, they said.
Law Minister Raja Basharat said leaders of the PPP and the PML-N were not free to take their decisions. According to him, they have to seek instructions from their exiled leaders who have little interest in the continuity of the democratic process.
“Our journey will continue even without the opposition. We’ll continue to serve the masses to the best of our abilities,” he said, implying that the absence of the opposition legislators would make no difference.
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