LAHORE, Aug 29: The controversial Parliamentary Commission on Creation of New Provinces in Punjab received a new jolt on Wednesday when the provincial assembly adopted a resolution rejecting it and terming it a violation of the spirit of its earlier unanimous resolutions.

The resolution tabled by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was adopted amid a commotion during which legislators from the two sides raised slogans against each other and even exchanged blows.

“This representative house of the provincial assembly of Punjab rejects the commission on new provinces nominated by the National Assembly speaker on Aug 16, 2012,” said the resolution.

“This house is of the opinion that the said commission is against the spirit and text of the resolutions passed by the provincial assembly of Punjab on May 9, 2012, and is in conflict with the solidarity of the federation of Pakistan.

“This house demands the federal government immediately withdraw the proposed commission and, taking all stakeholders on board and keeping in view national consensus as well as constitutional requirements, form such a representative national commission that enjoys confidence of all national/provincial leaderships,” it said.

On a July 11 presidential reference, Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Aug 16 formed the 14-member commission with six representatives each from the Senate and National Assembly and two from Punjab Assembly.

The commission is still incomplete as Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal is refusing to nominate the two members.

The commission, which held its first meeting on Aug 27 and elected presidency’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar as its chairman, became controversial since its inception as the PML-N, the ruling party in Punjab, objected to its composition as well as its focus only on one province.

The party questioned the presence of representatives of parties based outside the province — the MQM and ANP — in the Punjab-specific panel, while it also called for creation of new federating units, like Hazara in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which should be included in the terms of reference.

Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani and PML-F leader Imtiaz Sheikh have opposed creation of new provinces, cautioning that the move could damage the country’s solidarity.

MAYHEM: The Punjab Assembly witnessed one of the worst disorders in its history when the PPP and PML-Q disrupted proceedings as the PML-N tried to ignore their protests and demand for nominations to the parliamentary commission.

The opposition has been successfully obstructing the proceedings since the first sitting of the current session on Monday.

On an assurance by PML-N’s Waris Kallu that the opposition would cooperate in the lawmaking process, the Speaker Rana Iqbal allowed PPP and PML-Q leaders to speak their mind on the nominations issue after refusing to oblige them for two days.

Ehsan Naulatia and Nazim Husain Shah, both from the PPP, built their case with speeches containing what they said were historical facts.

But failing to extract any response from the treasury they started protesting.

In a bid to block the proceedings, they assembled before the speaker’s dais shouting slogans against the chief minister and the provincial government.

As the security staff along with police as well as some PML-N MPAs shielded the chair, the opposition interrupted the recording of the proceedings by the assembly staff by tearing off wires of the recording equipment and tried to overturn their desks.

Pointing out lack of quorum, the MPAs tore up copies of the agenda and turned to the assembly secretary in a bid to snatch assembly business files from him. As the officer was shielded by parliamentary secretary Tahir Khalil Sandhu and others, women MPAs Seemal Kamran and Majida Zaida of PML-Q reached Law Minister Rana Sanaullah’s seat to bar him from tabling the Information Technology University Bill.

An annoyed Rana Sana directed his colleagues to push back the women who he said were rude and insolent.

Dr Ghazala Rana and another member came forward and jostled MPAs Seemal and Majida, who pushed back. Then Dr Rana slapped both the Q-Leaguers as some men from the treasury benches were reported to have behaved indecently while playing the role of conciliators.

During the chaos, the law minister not only got the university bill but also the resolution against the parliamentary commission approved and the speaker prorogued the session sine die.