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ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Treasury members in the National Assembly on Tuesday lent support to the PPP Parliamentarians for introduction of a draft bill seeking repeal of Hudood laws.
The move prompted a walkout by lawmakers of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
Already twice before, PPP Parliamentarians MNA Sherry Rahman had presented the draft bill in the house but could not get it cleared due to strong opposition from the government.
This time the government chose not to oppose the draft bill which was introduced by Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada on behalf of party legislators.
Law Minister Chaudhry Wasi Zafar said the government did not want to oppose it and it might be referred to the house committee on law.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), which was without any of its central leaders at the time, registered its opposition to describing the bill as anti-Islam and staged a walkout. The PML-N joined the MMA in opposing the bill and its members staged a walkout as well.
The government rejected a bill to amend the offence of zina (Enforcement of Hudood) ordinance 1979, (The offences of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Amendment bill, 2005) on the ground that the courts have been made responsible under 1973 act to pursue such cases and help the female accused.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Kunwar Khalid Yunas’s amendment to the offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hadd) ordinance 1979 (Amendment bill) 2005 (Amendment of section 6) was introduced with the support of PPP Parliamentarians.
SECOND RESOLUTION: The house unanimously adopted a resolution — the second in four days — condemning the publication of blasphemous material in newspapers of Denmark, Germany, Norway, France, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy and other countries.
“This house condemns in the strongest terms the hurting of the entire Muslim world’s sentiments and has divided the entire world. It said insult of religious faith in the name of press freedom is condemnable and this house demands that these countries take action against such newspapers which have indulged in publishing of blasphemous material to hurt the sentiments of the Ummah,” the resolution said.
Sahibzada Fazl-i-Karim of PML (Nawaz), who prepared the resolution after consulting both the treasury and opposition benches, read out the document in the house.
SPIRALLING PRICES: Lawmakers criticized the government for failing to control sugar and wheat prices amid allegations that the shortage particularly of sugar was a result of a conspiracy involving sugar millers and the government.
They accused sugar manufacturers and traders of hoarding the commodity and locking away their stocks in godowns to the detriment of the poor.
Qamar Zaman Kaira of PPP Parliamentarians said the country was not just self-sufficient but surplus in sugar production and alleged that the crisis had been created by the ruling clique which, he said, owned most of the sugar mills and had outlawed the setting up of new sugar mills.
Sher Muhammad Baloch said that although Pakistan was the world’s second largest producer of sugar, the government had not been able to keep prices from soaring due to its faulty policies.
He said the government had failed to get sugar-cane prices fixed on account of which the crop had suffered.
Manzoor Wassan said TCP had two million tons of sugar stocks but still more sugar was being imported from India. He said the per 40 kgs price of sugar-cane and per kg price of sugar had come at a par (ie, Rs.42) which was a great failure of the government.
Qari Gul Rahman of MMA from Karachi criticized the government for piloting a bill repealing Hudood laws at a time when the entire Muslim world was agitating against blasphemous material published by Western newspapers.
Muhammad Hussain Mehanati said distribution of sugar through utility stores was not enough as a large number of localities in the country were without utility stores and demanded provision of sugar at subsidized rates.
He asked the government to warn hoarders to bring their stock into the market or face raids on their stocks.
DRAFT BILLS: It was private members’ day and several draft bills were introduced and rejected by a majority.
A draft bill sought to be moved by Saad Rafique and others of PML-N to confine the chances of intervention in civil works by the Pakistan army was rejected on vote count after the government opposed it.
The house allowed introduction of another draft bill sought to be introduced by Mrs Aisha Munawar of MMA on behalf of 18 other legislators belonging to the religious alliance.
Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho moved a motion seeking leave to introduce a bill to provide Pakistani women with equal access to opportunities in employment and affirmative action programme is indispensable in security such equal access (“The equality of opportunity for women in employment bill 2005) which was approved by the house unanimously.
PPP Parliamentarians Nayyar Bokhari tried in vain to introduce a draft bill to provide pre-emptive law for the Islamabad Capital Territory which was rejected by the house after government’s opposition.
A draft bill sought to be moved by MMA’s Liaquat Baloch, Farid Ahmed Piracha, Maulana Ghafoor Haideri and others proposing repeal of marriage functions prohibition of ostentatious displays and wasteful expenses ordinance 2000 and to enact another law (The functions and Ceremonies (prohibition of ostentatious displays and wasteful expenditures) bill 2005 was also rejected by a majority vote.
Another draft bill seeking imposition of restrictions on dowry and bridal gifts (The dowry and bridal gifts (restrictions) bill 2005) got the approval of the house for further debate.
The house approved introduction of another bill further to amend the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 (The Pakistan Environmental Protection (Amendment) bill 2005) providing complete ban on plastic bags in the country.
A constitutional amendment sought to be moved by M.P. Bhandara of treasury benches seeing amendment of Article 55 concerning the quorum issue was not allowed by the house as the government said the change could be made without amending the constitution.
Speaker Amir Hussain sent a privilege motion to the house committee on privileges sought to be moved by Amjad Ali Warraich who said his privilege was breached by the maltreatment of an SHO in Toba Tek Singh.
The speaker, addressing Nahid Khan of PPP Parliamentarians, said he had reserved his ruling on the privilege motion sought to be moved by her on red notices issue and allowed her to further speak if she desired.
Nahid Khan said, “We welcome the law minister’s statement that Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari were issued only notices and not warrants adding that both the leaders had left the country with the court’s permission and were not absconders.”
