KARACHI: Joint resolution on Bajaur, Malakand opposed
By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, Nov 8: The members of City Council got divided on Wednesday when the treasury benches tabled a resolution condemning the suicide bombing in Malakand agency, claiming lives of 35 soldiers and injuring more than 40 as Opposition insisted on voting on its resolution regarding the Bajaur incident.
Convenor of the house, Nasreen Jalil, tried to persuade the members on both sides of the divide to bring a unanimous resolution on these tragic incidents and rejected the demand of the Opposition for passage of its resolution.
There was an uproar in the house for some time when an attempt was made by the treasury members for passage of its resolution, thereby sidetracking the Opposition resolution on Bajaur. Sensing the division in the house on both the issues, the chair postponed the council meeting to meet again on Saturday.
Earlier, when the house resumed session, Al Khidmat leader Rafiq Ahmed initiated debate on Bajaur incident. He blamed US and its allied forces for bombing the Bajaur seminary, thereby killing innocent people and slammed the government for protecting US interests.
Mr Ahmed claimed that all available reports showed that the seminary had been bombed by the US aircraft by violating the airspace of the country and it was not the first time that the US had committed such an aggression against a Muslim country, saying the US and its allies had been committing naked aggression against Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He termed the Bajaur incident a sheer negligence of the government and regretted that it was trying to absolve the US by accepting its responsibility.
The Al Khidmat leader maintained that the country had been passing through a critical phase because of misdeeds of the rulers who had captured power by force. He went on to say that due to the ill-advised policies of the present government, the sovereignty of the country was at stake.
He suggested that this august house should adopt the resolution and a clear message be given to the rulers that the policies they had been pursuing was not in the interest of the countrymen.
He made it clear that the people were determined to protect our faith and religious norms and would not in any way compromise on the sovereignty of the countrymen.
Opposition member Abdul Razak said the bombing incident took place at a time when efforts for peace in the area were in progress and a Waziristan-type agreement was about to be signed. He charged that it was a pre-planned act which was aimed at sabotaging efforts for peace.
Describing the Bajaur incident a tragic one, the Opposition member urged all the house members to condemn it unanimously.
Awam Dost Councillor Rukhsana Fasil regretted that rulers were killing its own people on the pretext of “terrorism.”
She said earlier in a military operation in Balochistan, an important Baloch leader had been killed in the name of war against terror and no inquiry had been conducted, so far.
She suggested that the house should urge the government to conduct an inquiry into these tragic incidents.
Opposition member Ismail Brohi also condemned the incident of Bajaur and called for an inquiry by a judge of the Supreme Court.
Treasury leader Abdul Jalil rejected the demand of the Opposition on Bajaur, saying the issue should have not been debated in the house as the government had already called a National Assembly session on Nov 10 to discuss this sensitive issue.
He claimed that the Opposition was misleading people by giving them wrong information on the issue.
Mr Jalil said those who were criticizing the present military rulers had supported the army governments in the past.
Defending the government’s actions, Mr Jalil termed the present government constitutional and said it was working under the law of the country.
The treasury councillor said, “we are a part of the government.” It was our responsibility to defend its policies, he added.
He said the Haq Parast leadership had always supported the cause of the oppressed people and reminded the house that the MQM leader had condemned the Bajaur incident at the outset and demanded an inquiry into the incident.
Mr Jalil’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by the Opposition members who urged him to be relevant and confine his speech to Bajaur. Later, the opposition members staged a token walkout.
The Opposition members entered the house when the treasury member ended his speech.
Thereafter, Opposition leader Saeed Ghani blasted the treasury for its duplicity by changing its political stances repeatedly.
In this regard, Mr Ghani recalled the MQM stance on Balochistan, saying its leader had announced that its legislators would resign, if the government launched any military operation in Balochistan.
He said not only a military operation had been conducted in the province, but subsequently an important Baloch leader had also been killed, and, so far, no MQM legislator or minister had tendered resignation.
The Opposition leader termed the Musharraf government and the MQM being part of it as the most corrupt regime in the history of the country. In this regard, he referred to various scandals.
He said the treasury member had deliberately made an attempt to confuse the Bajaur issue and divert the attention of the house by raising irrelevant issues.
Later, the leader of the House, Asif Siddique and Masood Mehmood, drew the attention of the chair toward the resolution on Malakand incident in which 35 soldiers had been killed and more than 40 were injured in a suicide bombing.
They insisted that the resolution should be tabled for passage, but the Opposition leaders Saeed Ghani and Rafiq Ahmed opposed it and demanded that Bajaur resolution should be presented for passage, otherwise, they would not support the treasury resolution. They also demanded that both the resolutions be clipped together.The convenor intervened, saying that a joint resolution could be submitted in the house.
She informed the members that that the house could not pass a condemnation resolution against the government under the SLGO.
She said the Bajaur incident was no doubt an unpleasant incident and the council had debated it openly. There was an uproar in the house while the Opposition was continuing its protest.
Ms Nasreen Jalil sought the views of the treasury benches on the Malakand incident who raised their hands in support of it, but the Opposition members abstained from it in protest.
Sensing division in the house, she postponed the house to meet again on Saturday.
When the council officer was contacted on the legality of the resolution, he said the resolution had been tabled in the house. The council will take it up again on Saturday.
