MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir on Wednesday “restored” the membership of seven opposition lawmakers, who had been suspended by him for the current session for allegedly committing “blasphemy” but the decision failed to reduce bitterness between the two sides.

On Tuesday, seven out of the nine present members from the combined opposition had torn up copies of the agenda and staged a walkout to protest against inclusion of seven resolutions in praise of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a session called exclusively to discuss the situation in India-held Kashmir.

Since the agenda included one resolution by MLA Pir Ali Raza Bukhari about the dignity of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) as well as finality of the Prophethood, the treasury benches described their act as blasphemous, eventually triggering suspension of the opposition legislators’ membership by the chair.

A seven-member committee was formed by the chair to probe the matter, which called on the opposition members late on Tuesday night in the room of former premier Chaudhry Abdul Majeed in the MLA Hostel, where the opposition lawmakers claimed that they had already detached the pages containing the resolution about the Prophet (peace be upon him).

They added that they felt “sad” if any such page had been left out “by mistake”.

However, when the committee presented its report in the house on Wednesday, in the absence of the opposition, it used the word “remorseful” instead of “sad”.

After presentation of the report, the chair announced restoration of their membership, but on entering the house the opposition took strong exception to the use of the word “remorseful”, maintaining that it amounted to confession of the most detested sin of blasphemy on their part.

“Before we can even think of committing the mildest form of blasphemy, we will prefer death to life; not only for ourselves but for also our children,” said Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, in an emotional voice.

He maintained that since the suspension order was based on a “phoney allegation”, the chair should withdraw it instead of restoring their membership.

Mr Yasin alleged that the AJK prime minister and his team had used “derogatory and abusive language” about the opposition.

“We had a lot of reservations about this government, but we came to discuss the alarming situation in held Kashmir. After going through the agenda, we decided that we will talk on Kashmir and the dignity of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) but boycott the resolutions about Mr Sharif,” he said.

“Whatever happened afterwards was unpleasant,” he said, referring to the blasphemy allegation. As his demand for withdrawal of the suspension notification was not granted by the chair, the entire opposition staged a walkout.

In its absence, the treasury benches referred some pieces of law to the house committees concerned.

They also held a debate on all the resolutions, and passed the one about the dignity of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

Regarding the remaining resolutions, seven of which were aimed at praising Mr Sharif and expressing faith in his leadership and nine about the situation in India-held Kashmir, the chair constituted a committee to present joint drafts for passage by the house on Thursday.

SIT-IN: After their walkout, the opposition lawmakers staged a symbolic sit-in on a lawn in front of the MLA Hostel in protest against the “discriminatory and vindictive” policies of the PML-N government. They included opposition leader Yasin, former premier Majeed and Aamir Ghaffar Lone from the PPP, Malick Mohammad Nawaz and Sardar Saghir Chughtai from Muslim Confere­n­­­ce, Abdul Majid Khan and Deevan Ghulam Mohiyuddin from the PTI and Sardar Khalid Ibrahim from Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2017