PESHAWAR, May 8: The NWFP Assembly, through a resolution, has demanded an early return of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto for her participation in the ongoing government-opposition talks on Pakistan-India relations.

Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan presided over the last sitting of the current session on Thursday. He then prorogued the assembly sine die.

Speaking on a joint resolution tabled by Abdul Akbar Khan and Aga Zahir Ali Shah of the PPP and Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, Akbar Khan said the house considered the proposed resumption of talks with India by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali a right step in the right direction.

The house, he said, demanded of the federal government to allow Ms Bhutto to return honourably and take part in government-opposition talks and added that her presence in the country was necessary at the moment.

Akbar Khan also demanded release of Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr Bilour requested the speaker to include PML chief Nawaz Sharif’s name in the resolution also.

The house adopted the resolution with majority.

The resolution made a dent in the opposition bloc as members of the PML-Q and PPP-Sherpao registered their protest on the way the speaker entertained the resolution and walked out of the house.

Sikandar Sherpao of the PPP-Sherpao said it seemed the speaker, too, had become a party to the matter. He maintained that according to rules the movers should have submitted the resolution 15 days ago.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal members, who were happy over the first fissure in the joint opposition’s ranks, abstained from the business.

The house adopted seven resolutions unanimously regarding the construction of a double carriageway from Hasanabdal to Mansehra, establishment of detoxification and rehabilitation centres at the district level, transfer of funds allocated for Kaladhaka-Darband-Thakot Road from Batagram to Mansehra highway division, re-opening of civil hospital and two dispensaries at Khalabat Township in Haripur, launch of Quran studies from class one to five, and reading (of Quran) with translation from class six to matric at private and public schools across the province, and incentives for those government employees who were serving in Kohistan district. The resolutions were tabled by Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Shahzada Gistasip, Zar Gul Khan, Akhtar Nawaz Khan, Dr Zakir Shah, Mazhar Qasim and Maulana Ismatullah, respectively.

Speaking on his resolution, Mushtaq Ghani of the PML-Q informed the house that the national highway track from Hasanabdal to Mansehra could not bear the burden of heavy traffic. He demanded of the federal government to construct a double road from Hasanabdal to Mansehra.

Mr Gistasip urged the government to set up rehabilitation and detoxification centres for heroin addicts at the district level.

The minister for social welfare department, Hafiz Hashmat Ali, informed the house that the government had allocated Rs1.7 million for the purpose and they had involved NGOs in the fight against drug menace.

MPA Akhtar Nawaz, one of those affected by the construction of Tarbela Dam, said they had abandoned their homes for the dam, but his 45,000 people were living in Khalabat Township without a hospital. He deplored the attitude of his party, the MMA, which allegedly wanted to delay the resolution.

Mazhar Qasim demanded that the National Highway Authority should pay compensation to the residents of Balakot and Kaghan, whose houses had been demolished for expansion of the road. He also urged the NHA to give adequate compensation to farmers, whose lands had come under the road expansion.

The house adopted two other resolutions with majority about the deployment of women technicians at private and government hospitals for female patients and reservation of a paramedics seat at the provincial health academy, Peshawar, for the students of Kaladhaka. The resolutions were tabled by Dr Zakir Shah and Zar Gul Khan.

Dr Simeen Mehmood of the PML-Q opposed the resolution tabled by Dr Zakir Shah of the MMA, saying it was not possible for the time being to adopt this resolution. “We should think how we can save a life. It will be funny to take it on a gender basis,” she argued.