ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain cut short an opposition-called National Assembly session in apparent anger on Monday after a stormy sitting marked by opposition protests and rows with the chair and treasury benches.
Opposition members chanted “shame, shame” as the chair prorogued the session, accusing them of not maintaining the decorum of the house, leaving an opposition-set agenda unfinished.
“Since you are not maintaining the decorum of the house, I will have to prorogue it”, Mr Hussain said before reading out his prorogation order, which he is empowered to issue for sessions requisitioned by members of the house while only the president can prorogue other sessions summoned on the government’s request.
The speaker acted after in the midst of a debate on the Balochistan situation after Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) interrupted a speech by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao supporting the latest government crackdown in Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts of the province
The opposition parties had originally requisitioned the present session to discuss the Balochistan situation, the controversial Kalabagh dam project and high petroleum prices.
The opposition parties were no longer interested in debating Kalabagh dam after President Pervez Musharraf and the federal cabinet decided to defer the project and instead go ahead with the Bhasha dam in the Northern Areas, but they were seeking detailed discussions on Balochistan and oil prices. The house had also admitted an opposition adjournment motion for a debate on the January 13 deadly US airstrike in the Bajaur tribal area when it met on January 17 before the speaker adjourned it for 10 days until last Friday, when it was adjourned again until Monday to mourn the death of veteran Pukhtun leader Abdul Wali Khan.
Confusion reigned from the start of proceedings after the question hour on Monday as the house took a long time to decide how to proceed with the Balochistan debate amid repeated warning from the Speaker that he would follow only the government-set agenda for the day unless the two sides came to an understanding allowing disposal of some routine official motions to table four presidential ordinances and some standing committee reports.
Before any serious speech on Balochistan could be made, chairman Amin Fahim and some other members of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) used the occasion to condemn the government’s approach to the Interpol that led to the issuance of the so-called “red notices” to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari and called for an explanation by Mr Sherpao.
The MMA alliance and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz criticised the government on issues ranging from what they called military operations in Balochistan and North Waziristan to the US attack in Bajaur and Sunday’s mixed marathon in Lahore.
A ruling party member from minorities, Gian Chand Singh, and Haji Gul Mohammad Dummar of the MMA almost came to blows in an altercation over the role of the ulema during Afghan war in the 1980s before several members from both sides of the house intervened to bring peace in the house.
At one point, all opposition parties staged a token walkout against government policies after a PPP threat for a walkout to press for an explanation from Mr Sherpao about the “red notices”, which the Interpol says were issued on a request from Pakistani.
ACTED AS “POST OFFICE”: Mr Sherpao said his ministry had acted only “as a post office” to send the National Accountability Bureau request to the international police organisation for the red notices.
He also repeated the usual government denials that any military operation was going on in Balochistan and said the Frontier Corps paramilitary force was acting only against what he called “ferari camps” of fugitives from law. Before him, a stinging speech on Balochistan came from Abdul Rauf Mengal of Balochistan National Party-Mengal who accused the government of resorting to carpet-bombing and killing up to 200 people in the latest operations in the province.
DIPLOMATIC PARTIES: Earlier, Muttahida Qaumi Movement member Kunwar Khalid Yunus created a stir in the house when he complained that the government had circulated a letter asking house members not to attend foreign diplomatic functions without permission from the foreign ministry.
Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi said the restriction applied not only to parliament members but also to government ministers and advisers and that such instructions had been issued by the foreign office “time and again”.
The chair asked the MQM member to better discuss the matter with the concerned minister as his party was a partner in the coalition government.
