ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: The first meeting of the parliamentary commission for carving out of new provinces out of Punjab will be held on Tuesday even though the Pakistan Muslim League-N has stuck to its decision of boycotting the session.
The one-point agenda of the meeting is to elect a chairperson of the commission. Terms of reference (TORs) and rules of business will also be discussed, sources told Dawn.
The controversial 14-member parliamentary commission was formed by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Aug 16 in pursuance of a message received from President Asif Ali Zardari and authorisation by the assembly on July 11.
Her announcement named 12 members only, drawn from the two houses of parliament, and said two members would be nominated by the Punjab Assembly speaker.
Inclusion of the three PML-N members in the commission had surprised and confused the party and a day after its announcement, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, accused the speaker of unilaterally nominating his party’s legislators without consulting the party.
Chaudhry Nisar rejected the commission and called for raising his party’s representation to 50 per cent, contending that since the proposed body was meant only for carving two provinces out of Punjab, the PML-N must have a greater say by virtue of being the biggest party in the provincial assembly. He had also questioned inclusion of the MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar, ANP’s Haji Adeel and JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, saying their parties had no representation in Punjab.
Later another PML-N spokesman, Senator Pervez Rasheed, declared that the PML-would boycott the commission’s meetings until the objections raised by Chaudhry Nisar were removed.
According to the PML-N, the government should form a “national commission” that should discuss creation of new federating units in other provinces as well, particularly in areas where the local people have been campaigning for it like Bahawalpur province (in south Punjab), Hazara (in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and new provinces in the federally-administered tribal areas (Fata).
PML-N’S DOUBTS: The PML-N believes that the demand for “south Punjab” province has not come from the public, accusing the People’s Party of playing politics.
On the other hand, PPP claims that PML-N had already been given more than its due representation in the commission, elaborating that each party had been given representation in the ratio of “one to 37 legislators” in both the houses of the parliament.
The move to form the commission had come after a message from President Zardari was read out by Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi calling for the constitution of a 14-member body to implement, by amending the Constitution, two resolutions passed in May by the lower house and the Punjab Assembly.
The commission has the mandate to look into issues related to fair distribution of economic and financial resources, demarcation, allocation and readjustment of seats in the National Assembly, Senate and the provincial assembly, and allocation of seats in the new province on the basis of population, including number of seats for minorities and women.
The commission is required to submit its report to the National Assembly speaker as well as to the prime minister within 30 days of its notification in the official gazette.
The PPP’s Farhatullah Babar said so far there had been no word from PML-N, but the commission would meet on Tuesday nevertheless.
He said that after electing its chairman, the commission would finalise terms of reference and rules of business. After finalisation of the TORs and rules, it would be clear if the commission would continue working without PML-N or efforts would be made to bring them on board.