LAHORE, June 3: Punjab Assembly Deputy Leader of the Opposition Rana Sanaullah demanded on Thursday that the provincial authorities should be prosecuted for issuing orders to ban inter-province wheat movement in violation of constitutional provisions.

He alleged that the ban, first of its kind in the history of the country, had been imposed to the advantage of a mafia which had already minted billions in the flour crisis three months ago.

Speaking on a point of order, he said the government had violated Article 151 of the constitution by issuing an executive order restricting wheat transportation to other provinces around a month ago.

Asking the Rana to produce the executive order in the house, food minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal denied the impression that the provincial government had taken any such measure.

When MMA's Ehsanullah Waqas pointed to the ground realities, the Chaudhry admitted with a broad smile on his face that the government had achieved the objective through imposition of Section 144 by Nazimeen in their respective districts. In some areas, the provincial government had itself imposed the law, he added.

Wondering what Section 144 had to do with wheat movement as the law was meant for maintaining law and order, Rana Sana said the minister had in fact "confessed his offence".

The use of Section 144 for restricting inter-province wheat movement was also against the Constitution, he said. He said the ban had been introduced to ensure food security in the province. However, he added, Punjab was still playing big brother and providing wheat flour to other provinces.

He claimed that NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani had refused to lift wheat from Punjab godowns during a recent visit to Lahore, saying that people wanted flour due to its high quality.

Mr Waqas said there was no article in the Constitution regarding food security. PPP's Jehanzeb Imtiaz Gill objected to an official advertisement in papers seeking donations for development projects. Nowhere in the world, he said, any development work was undertaken on the basis of donations.

Chaudhry Iqbal contested his views, saying that the young parliamentarian misunderstood the donation concept. It actually meant community participation, which was in vogue all over the world and Sialkot airport was also being constructed under this very concept. Law minister Raja Basharat said community participation was not a new concept as a former government had introduced it for debt retirement.