June 17, 2007	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 01, 1428

ISLAMABAD June 16: Senate proceedings on Saturday came to a virtual standstill when the combined opposition boycotted en bloc the sitting to protest against, what they termed, denial of a vote count on a motion seeking a cut in defence budget and chairman’s time-gaining tactics when the government was on a verge of defeat.

The house proceedings lasted only for 15 minutes before being called off.

While the opposition claimed it had a majority at the time it called for vote count the government side contradicted and claimed its 21 lawmakers were sitting as against 19 of the opposition.

Senate Deputy Chairman Jan Mohammad Jamali, in the chair, adjourned the sitting till Tuesday morning (10am) after the opposition’s uproar, sloganeering and leaving the house.

The opposition leaders, later speaking at a joint news conference, criticised the attitude of the chair and described it their triumph and government’s moral defeat.

The opposition parliamentary leaders in the Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, Prof Khurshid Ahmed, Ishaq Dar and Dr Abdul Malik said the government was technically defeated and it should better resign as it had lost the right to rule.

Earlier at the outset of the upper house proceedings Prof Khurshid Ahmed took the floor to speak on joint motions sought to be moved by eight opposition lawmakers seeking a cut of Rs25 billion in the finance bill.

The motion said the proposed budget allocation for defence forces be reduced to Rs250 billion (from Rs275 billion) and the defence budget be placed before the Parliament for debate and approval.

Education Minister Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi justified the increase in defence budget, saying that the country always needed to enhance its defence capability as India was increasing its defence spending every year.

The opposition demanded of Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal to respond to its motion instead of a former ISI chief and demanded an immediate vote on the motion which they lamented was not accepted and treasury senators started pouring in.

The opposition members rose from their seats and announced that they had outnumbered the treasury members. The chair was however not moved.

This led to an uproar as the opposition lawmakers started chanting slogans. Then the opposition lawmakers walked out of the house.

The opposition leaders spoke to the press while sitting on floor. They alleged that the chair by delaying vote count on the motion had clearly demonstrated his partiality.

Raza Rabbani, while narrating the happening in the upper house, said the opposition had decided to go for a vote by cutting short its speeches but the chair bailed the government out by asking treasury members to speak to give time to the government to bring in maximum number of senators to avoid embarrassment.