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| November 20, 2007 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 09, 1428 |
KARACHI: Chaotic council session ends in 20 minutes
KARACHI, Nov 19: The City Council witnessed fireworks on Monday as defiant opposition members held up placards and raised slogans in continued protest against the emergency rule imposed on the country and the detention of one of their colleagues.
Pandemonium broke out when, backed by Ramzan Awan of the Al-Khidmat Group, the leader of the Awam Dost Group, Saeed Ghani, tried to convince house convener Nasreen Jalil on a point of order to table a resolution regarding emergency rule that had been submitted on Nov 7.
Masood Mehmud, a treasury leader of the Haq Parast Group, opposed the opposition move and said that the resolution contravened the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 and could therefore not be debated.
Earlier, Mr Ghani had said that indiscriminate arrests were taking place across the country, including that of a member of the house, Rafiq Ahmed of the Al-Khidmat Group, who had been detained in Lahore under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance. He had described police behaviour as being rude and irresponsible towards the government’s opponents, and had said that there was tyranny in the country. The opposition leader had also blasted the government for imposing a ban on the broadcast of two television channels, and had argued that given “the deteriorating conditions of the country,” the house should be allowed to debate this important issue.
While the opposition leader was presenting his arguments, treasury leader Masood Mehmood intervened on a point of order, saying that the City Council was not the proper forum for raising the issue of the emergency rule. The correct forum, he said, was the now defunct National Assembly, where the implications of the issue raised by the opposition could have been discussed.
Mr Mehmood’s remarks created uproar in the opposition benches, where members held up placards supporting democracy, free media and an independent judiciary. They also chanted slogans such as “Emergency not acceptable” and “We want freedom at any condition.”
Criticising the opposition leader, treasury member Abdul Jalil alleged that Mr Ghani had circulated misinformation about his arrest in the house and urged the convener to take disciplinary action against the opposition leader. Meanwhile, Al-Khidmat leader Ramzan Awan urged the convener to take up with the relevant authorities the issue of Rafiq Ahmed’s detention, and demanded that the house be kept abreast of all the details.
Amidst this chaos, the convener urged the members to resume the normal agenda of the house. The treasury hastily moved a resolution regarding the layout plan of the P&T Colony in Saddar town, which was unanimously adopted without the participation of the opposition. As treasury members thumped their desks, the opposition members continued to wave placards and shout slogans.
The convener, Ms Jalil, repeatedly asked members to maintain the decorum of the house but to little effect.
Subsequently, she abruptly and indefinitely adjourned the session, which had thus far lasted only 20 minutes.
Talking to the press later, Leader of the Opposition in the City Council Saeed Ghani condemned the abrupt adjournment of the proceedings and the hasty approval of an important resolution without the full participation of the house. Flanked by other opposition leaders, including Abdul Razak, Imran Baghpatti and Ramzan Awan, he said that the opposition had been denied debate on an urgent issue that concerned all the citizens of the country.
Mr Ghani said that the opposition also wanted to debate illegal appointments in the police and education departments, and the fact that more such appointments would be made on political grounds. He argued that they were not against providing jobs to deserving people but these particular appointments had been made in flagrant violation of the rules, which promoted a culture of corruption. He rejected the notion that the country was more important than democracy or the constitution, for these factors alone could safeguard the country.
Abdul Razak condemned what he called the dictatorship in the country, terming it a violation of Pakistan’s integrity. He demanded the release of all the arrested activists, including council member Rafiq Ahmed.
Another opposition leader, Imran Baghpatti, decried the practice of providing the house agenda to members just before the commencement of the session. Describing this as a bad precedent, Mr Baghpatti observed that the motive appeared to be political in nature and alleged that the treasury bench was trying to take undue advantage in order to promote its political objective. He suggested that house members should be provided the agenda at least three days before the commencement of the session.
The opposition leaders also condemned the recent retrenchment in Site, saying that old employees were being shunted out from the industrial estate while new recruitments were being made on political grounds.
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