April 19, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 01, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 18: Maintaining their tradition, four opposition members of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) have signed an application to be submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat demanding of Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain to issue the production order for jailed leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi for the coming session commencing from April 23.

According to ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi, the application has been signed by members of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the PML-N, and it would be moved on Thursday under Rule 90 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 1992.

Those who have signed the application are PPP MNAs Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and Syed Khurshid Shah, acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and MNA Maimoona Hashmi.

In the application, the ARD members have requested the speaker to issue the production order for Mr Hashmi - presently detained in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore - to enable him to represent his constituency on the floor of the National Assembly.

Mr Hashmi is presently undergoing 23-year imprisonment in a treason case and his appeal against the conviction has been pending before the higher court for about two years.

Javed Hashmi, who is the president of the ARD and acting president of the PML-N, was picked up by the police and agencies personnel on October 29, 2003 from the Parliament Lodges and his in-camera trial under treason charge was carried out inside Adiyala Jail, Rawalpindi.

Mr Hashmi has been accused of reading out a fake and anonymous letter from an armyman against the military regime during a press conference at the cafeteria of the Parliament House.

The opposition members from the ARD and the MMA lodged a strong protest against the arrest of Mr Hashmi at a time when the National Assembly was in session. However, the opposition members failed to continue their protest and later contended on mere passing resolutions and demanding release of Mr Hashmi in their meetings.

The opposition, however, has maintained a tradition of submitting an application under the mentioned rule seeking production order for Mr Hashmi before start of every National Assembly session since then.

The six opposition members, including ARD president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, had earlier moved a similar application on February 1 before start of the session on February 6. However, no opposition members raised the issue of Mr Hashmi during the whole assembly session that continued for 18 days.

It is interesting to note that ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim has met Mr Hashmi in jail only once since the time of his arrest. Besides this, there are several prominent opposition leaders who have not even met Mr Hashmi in the jail.