ISLAMABAD, April 19: Opposition members belonging to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on Thursday submitted an adjournment motion to the National Assembly Secretariat seeking discussion on the decision of the Islamabad administration to cut road links of other cities to the capital on Wednesday when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry appeared before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
According to ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi, the motion has been moved under Rule 92 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 1992 and it has been signed by 13 members of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
In their motion, the opposition members state: “The administration of Islamabad had closed all roads leading to Islamabad from other provinces on April 18 without any reason and arrested persons who tried to go to Islamabad city which is unconstitutional, unethical and unlawful. This has caused a grave concern amongst the general public which needs discussion on the floor of the house adjourning the business of the National Assembly.”
The motion carries the signatures of PPP MNAs Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naheed Khan, Mehreen Anwer Raja, Nayyar Bokhari, Fehmida Mirza, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Chaudhry Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Zamarrud Khan and PML-N’s Khwaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Pervez Malik.
Meanwhile, four ARD members on Thursday also submitted an application to the National Assembly Secretariat demanding of Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain to issue the production order for jailed leader of the PML-N Makhdoom Javed Hashmi for the coming session commencing from April 23.
The application has been moved under Rule 90 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 1992. Those who have signed the application are PPP MNAs Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and Syed Khurshid Shah, acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Maimoona Hashmi.
In their application, the ARD members have requested the speaker to issue the production order for Mr Hashmi, who is presently detained at Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, to enable him to represent his constituency (NA-123) on the floor of the National Assembly.
Mr Hashmi is presently undergoing 23-year imprisonment in a treason case and his appeal against the conviction has been pending before the higher court for the last about two years.
Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, who is the president of the ARD and acting president of the PML-N, was picked up by the police and agencies personnel on October 29, 2003 from the Parliament Lodges and his in-camera trial under treason charge was carried out inside Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.