LAHORE The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday condemned the killing of innocent Kashmiris at the hands of Indian forces on Aug 11 as well as the Dera Ismail Khan suicide bombing on Aug 19 in which 30 people died.
Before being prorogued for an indefinite period, the eighth session of the house unanimously passed a resolution tabled by Shaikh Alauddin from Kasur condemning the firing on innocent Kashmiris who, led by Shaikh Abdul Aziz, were advancing to Muzaffarabad in a peaceful procession of 600 fruit-laden trucks taken out to protest the economic blockade imposed on them.
He said New Delhi was exporting 1,000 items to Islamabad, converting the latter into a consumer market, but was not serious in resolving the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
He also criticised a dinner organised by an NGO for Indian and Pakistani people, two days after the killing of Shaikh Aziz and 23 other Kashmiris.
Another resolution was moved by PPP's Sajida Mir to condemn the Dera Ismail Khan suicide bombing and to show solidarity with the people of NWFP.
Earlier, the house saw witnessed a gross disruption when PML-Q forward bloc's Najaf Abbas Sial took to the floor to argue in favour of a hajj quota for MPs.
Sial, who claimed to be a leader of the Muslim League “unification group”, was heckled by PML-Q members who raised slogans of lotay (turncoat) whenever he attempted to utter a word.
A visibly annoyed Sial, finding no way out, resorted to sloganeering of “Musharraf ka jo yaar hay, ghaddaar hay ghaddaar hay”, while the chair continued to haplessly seek order in the house.
PPP's Shaukat Basra continued by demanding that the elevated status of MPAs should be recognised by issuing them with blue passports.
The speaker opposed the move saying any step regarding such 'sensitive matters' should be taken after proper coordination.
PML-N's Saeed Akbar Niwani seconded the chair arguing that the MPAs were here to fight for people and not for their own status and protocol, prompting another heated exchange.
The session was finally closed when an MP of the PML-Q pointed out that only 38 of the required 94 members were present in the house.
When MPs who had been relaxing in the cafeteria and galleries refused to return to the house, the session was prorogued sine die.
In 2015, the parliament had decided to “maintain neutrality in the Yemen conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis”.
