LAHORE: An irritated speaker of the Punjab Assembly put off proceedings of the house for three days on Thursday when the treasury failed to introduce the Punjab Emergency Services (Amendment) Bill as per the promise made in the previous session.

“We won’t [allow anyone to] violate the sanctity of the house… In the larger good and [for] the wellbeing of the Rescue 1122 [employees] I’m putting off the session’s proceedings till March 1,” a visibly irked Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said soon after proceedings of the first sitting of the 30thsession began.

Not happy at the dragging of feet by Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja, who had opposed a private member’s bill concerning the Rescue 1122 emergency services in the last session, and pledged to come up with a government’s bill on the subject on Thursday (Feb 25), the speaker reminded that a house committee had been working on the service structure for the Rescue 1122 employees for the last six months and it had been promised that the bill would be on the agenda of the house on Thursday (today).

Warning the treasury that the house proceedings won’t be allowed to progress until the bill was introduced, he said as the custodian of the house it was his responsibility to get implemented the assurances given in the assembly.

He didn’t agree to the assertion of the law minister that Khadija Umar’s bill was a money bill, which could not be moved by a private member.

Mr Elahi, who as the Punjab chief minister (2002-07) had established the Rescue 1122 services, eulogised its working and said that its performance had also been acknowledged by the United Nations. “How many other institutions in the country have proved their worth?” he asked.

He said that he was aware of and tolerating the elements creating obstacles in creating a service structure for the Rescue 1122 employees, that was meant to further improve their performance.

“I do know who among the bureaucrats are opposing the bill and those who are taking refuge behind the bureaucracy. I’m tolerating them, but they don’t know how far the fight of the parliament (elected house) may go,” he warned.

He recalled that on an issue involving the deputy speaker and police, all the legislators had joined hands for the sake of the sanctity of the house and had made the inspector general of police to appear before them.

Responding to Mr Elahi’s comments, Basharat Raja retorted that if the speaker wanted to appoint the Rescue 1122 director general for life, he could do so, but the constitutional and legal requirements could not be ignored for an individual.

“There’s no such precedent of legislation for an individual in the history of the parliament,” Raja added.

The law minister insisted that the bill MPA Khadija Umar had wished to table was a money bill in the context of the amendments proposed to the Punjab Emergency Service law, requiring approval of the cabinet.

He claimed that the changes suggested in the bill were already being made, like the appointment of the DG had been notified and directions issued for transferring the administrative control of the service from the Home Department to the Services & General Administration Department.

Opposition members, including Khalil Tahir Sandhu and Waris Kallu, urged the speaker to take up Ms Umar’s bill, ignoring the objections of the minister.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2021