LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday unanimously adopted resolutions to condemn Indian aggression on the Line of Control and Working Boundary and to pay a tribute to Malala Yusufzai for earning the Nobel Peace Prize 2014.

The resolutions were adopted after suspending regular agenda with thin attendance of just 17 members against the minimum quorum of 94. No member had pointed out the quorum issue though some PML-Q members were sitting there. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf members stayed away from the session as they had tendered their resignations to the Punjab Assembly speaker.

Punjab Law Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman presented the resolution against India which the Punjab Assembly strongly condemned. The resolution said the Indian government was violating the international laws while targeting common citizens of Pakistan. It expressed its deep grief over the death of Pakistani citizens due to Indian firing and offered ‘dua’.

The House lauded the federal government’s step of raising the issue at the international level and demanded that the international community should take notice and force India to abide by international laws.

The Assembly congratulated Malala Yusufzai for earning the Nobel Peace Prize and felt proud that the girl child got her vision of girls’ education recognised at international level.

The House saluted Malala for her efforts and said she had supported children to fight for their right to education. The House also supported federal government for creating conducive environment for the education of children in the country.

The law minister also laid a bill to establish the Punjab Institute of Quran and Seerat Studies. According to the bill the institute will be established in Lahore to provide an enabling environment to undertake research and publication of Quran and Seerat to impart higher education in the two fields.

Meanwhile, speaking on the floor of the assembly, PPP’s Faiza Malik pointed out that the future of some 4,000 intermediate students was at stake due to substandard marking of their scripts. She demanded that the government take a sympathetic view of the bright students’ future.

The law minister said the higher education had taken up the matter. However, on Ms Malik’s assertion that nobody had yet approached the protesting students, Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan directed the minister to ask the department that it should approach students and allay their concerns.

The Speaker pended two adjournment motions presented by Sheikh Allauddin and disposed of the third adjournment motion. Mr Allauddin said the World Health Organisation had declared Lahore the 10th environmentally polluted city in the world. He regretted that the Punjab government had no plan to check pollution.

He also regretted that the WHO report suggested that some two million people die across the world due to environmental pollution. He said the Coal Power Plant being operated in Indian Punjab was creating environmental pollution in rural areas around Lahore.

Similarly, Mr Sheikh regretted that some factories in Lahore were also burning old tyres and plastic waste and contributing to environmental degradation. He also regretted that the Environment Protection Agency’s three monitoring units had gone out of order.

The House, though short in strength, continued discussing resolution with regard to democracy. PML-N legislators Amjad Ali Javed, Zulfiqar Ghouri, Najma Beg, Surraiya Nasim, Dr Najma and Nabeela Aleem criticised the PTI and PAT sit-ins in Islamabad.

PML-Q legislator Khadija Umer said the current rulers in Punjab were ruling for the last seven years but failed to serve the masses. She said the prime minister came into power through fake mandate and had no regard for the miseries of the masses.

Earlier, MPA Saba Waqas Moakal expressed concern over the late beginning of the session. She also asked about the status of PTI’s resignations. The Speaker said he would call the PTI legislators individually and decide the matter.

During the question hour session of transport department, the treasury informed the House that the Metro Bus was given a budget of Rs1.125 billion during 2012-13 financial year and in the second half of the fiscal year, Rs12.9 million were paid under the head of salaries. It said nine employees were being given salary more than Rs100,000 a month including Rs357,000 salary of the Metro Bus managing director.

For the financial year 2013-14, income up to May 31 stood at Rs905.3 million, while the expenditure stood at Rs2.564 billion. The treasury said the government gave subsidy in the Metro Bus to the tune of Rs1.659 billion.

Transport parliamentary secretary Nawaz Chohan could not respond properly to the counter-questions.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014