LAHORE, Oct 5: Law Minister Raja Basharat told the Punjab Assembly on Thursday that there were `reports’ that street crime had increased in certain areas of the province where Muttahida Qaumi Movement opened its offices and that some office-bearers of the party appointed there were also involved in heinous crimes.

The minister, however, requested Speaker Afzal Sahi to defer the matter till the full-day debate on law and order. A committee had been constituted to review the overall law and order in the province and all the `facts’ in this regard would be presented before the house, he said in response to a point of order raised by MMA’s Arshad Mahmood Baggu.

The MMA legislator from Sialkot had earlier pointed out that street crime had increased in the province, especially in his city, after the MQM opened its offices here.

PPP’s Farzana Nazeer said since the MQM, a coalition partner of the federal government, had moved to the Punjab, the law and order had deteriorated further. Some bold steps had to be taken to improve the situation, she said while asking what had been the response of the government to the statement of MQM leader Altaf Hussain that all Q-League members were turncoats.

Minister for Agriculture Marketing Qasim Noon said all members of his party condemned if Altaf Hussain had uttered such remarks.

The chair also disposed of a point of order, raised by Mr Baggu, regarding the promulgation of an ordinance by the governor after the convening of the assembly but before the commencement of the session.

Mr Buggu had raised the point during the Oct 2 session that the Punjab Border Military Force (Amendment) Ordinance 2006 was promulgated by the governor on Sept 26, six days after summoning the assembly to meet on Sept 28. He had requested the speaker to give a ruling whether the governor could promulgated an ordinance after the summoning of the assembly but before the session.

Speaker Afzal Sahi ruled that the governor had promulgated the ordinance when the session of the assembly was yet to start. The chair also cited a June 12, 1997, ruling given by the then speaker, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, on an identical point of order raised by the then opposition leader, Saeed Ahmad Manais, and a verdict of the Supreme Court in the case of presidential Reference No 1 of 1988.

Earlier, deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah said the ordinance remained on the agenda of the assembly for two days and according to rules of business it could either be withdrawn or laid before the house.

The speaker said an item not on the agenda for the day could not be taken up.

The Punjab Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2006 was passed while the Punjab Development of Cities (Amendment) Bill 2006 and the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Amendment) Bill 2006 were kept pending for Monday by the chair on the request of the law minister.

The house through a resolution termed the death of Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Zahoor Ahmad Khan Daha a great loss.

Speaker Afzal Sahi adjourned the house to meet again on Friday at 9am.