ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: The National Assembly, which resumed its proceedings after a two-day recess on Friday, failed to dispose of the scheduled legislative business owing to walkouts by the combined opposition and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
The MMA along with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf staged a prolonged walkout when Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain disallowed an MMA MNA from Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Maulana Haroonur Rashid, to speak on a point of self-explanation and challenged the MMA to stage the walkout if it desired so.
A controversy sprang as soon as proceedings started. The speaker ruled points of orders raised by some opposition lawmakers out of order, but allowed a couple of others from treasury benches.
Kunwar Khalid Yunus of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, on a point of order, said some lawmakers wrongly addressed the chair as ‘Mr deputy speaker’ when the deputy speaker presided over the sitting. According to rules, he added, it should be ‘Mr speaker’.
The minister for parliamentary affairs and the speaker agreed with the contention. They said that the deputy speaker or for that matter a presiding officer could be addressed the same way as the speaker.
Earlier, the speaker refused to allow but later gave floor to Naik Zaman, an MMA member from Fata, to speak on a point of self-explanation. Mr Zaman was linked to terrorist elements by the corps commander Peshawar.
Mr Zaman described the allegation as a breach of his privilege by the corps commander. He declared that none of his relatives had anything to do with terrorists.
Friday turned out to be a treasury’s day as it outnumbered the opposition members when the speaker called a headcount on three identical adjournment motions sought to be moved by combined opposition against the government’s ‘apathy’ towards flood-affected people in areas of the NWFP.
The house had a heavy agenda of legislative business, including introduction of a bill to amend the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, the Industrial Bank of Pakistan (Reorganisation and Conversion) Bill, the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Bill, a bill to repeal the NDFC Act 1973, Companies (Amendment) Bill, and the Alternative Energy Development Board Bill.
One of the two calling attention notices pointing out corruption in the PIA reservations and flight operation system as well as a discriminatory treatment with airhostesses was only read out by Hanif Abbasi of the MMA when the speaker called it a day.
The opposition called the speaker’s attitude discriminatory when he gave floor to some treasury members but disallowed opposition lawmakers to speak on points of order.
The speaker disallowed a debate on administrative manipulation in the third phase of the local council poll when Raja Parvaiz Ashraf of People’s Party Parliamentarians tried to speak on a point of order, following a privilege motion moved by his party colleague Hezbullah Bhargari from Larkana.
Mr Bhargari, through a privilege motion which was disposed of on an assurance by the interior minister that he would seek a report on the matter, said that a huge contingent of police intercepted him when he was driving to the airport on Sept 12 and asked him to put his general councillor support for the official candidate.
Raja Ashraf on a point of order said: “Many of us have faced similar treatment at the hands of administrative machinery throughout the process of local government elections and we seek to talk on it”.
Through identical adjournment motions which were opposed by the parliamentary affairs minister, MMA’s Liaquat Baloch, PPP’s Raja Ashraf and Yasmin Rajman invited the attention of the house to the government’s attitude towards the flood-hit people of Peshawar, Charsadda and other areas of the NWFP.
The minister said that since it was not a recent occurrence and since the federal government had already been working with provincial governments in times of disaster it did not amount to any emergency requiring a debate.