Punjab Assembly: Opposition, treasury ignore agenda, play to media

Session begins hours late as PPP stages rally outside.


Abdul Manan September 09, 2011

LAHORE:


The 30th session of the Punjab Assembly began on Friday, though members spent more time in discussions outside than inside the assembly hall and ignored the agenda for the day.


The session began two-and-a-half hours later than the scheduled start time of 3pm, as the Pakistan Peoples Party staged a ‘solidarity rally’ outside the building to celebrate three years since Asif Ali Zardari became president. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman did not show up until 5:20pm.

The agenda of business listed a question and answer session on higher education and a general debate on law and order. At the business advisory meeting ahead of the session, all parliamentary parties had agreed to have a general discussion on law and order. However, the members did not bring up the subject, though the inspector general of police and the home secretary had been called to the house for the discussion and remained in attendance all day.

Opposition MPAs were unhappy with Rehman’s answers to their questions. Zobia Rubab Malik of the PML-Q lashed out at the minister over his response to a question about the student-teacher ratio at public schools, saying that at some places there were said to be seven teachers for two students while at other places there were said to be one teacher per 50 students.

On a point of order, Hassan Murtaza of the PPP criticised Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for his flippant remark about calling in the army to kill the dengue mosquito and demanded he withdraw the “insult” to the military.

PML-Q Parliamentary Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin suggested that Agriculture Department employees be engaged to conduct insecticide sprays. He said the government needed to improve coordination between health officials of the city district government and the provincial government.

Dr Akhtar Malik of the PPP complained that Bahauddin Zakariya University had become less a school and more a “criminal den” because it had been without a vice chancellor for six months.

Sanaullah responded that the Punjab government had sought to appoint a vice chancellor a long time ago, but had been blocked by Governor Sardar Latif Khosa. He said that the chief minister and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had reached an agreement on who to appoint as vice chancellor, but the governor had rejected the selection and suggested another name. Sanaullah said the governor had told him that the prime minister had changed his mind and wanted someone else appointed vice chancellor and that was why there had been the long delay.

Opposition Leader Raja Riaz, addressing the PPP rally and the press in the courtyard of the assembly hall, said that the party would resist any attempts by the government to limit the governor’s powers in the appointment of vice chancellors.

He said if the government did not issue development funds to PPP members by Monday, the party would further disrupt assembly business. He said that the PPP would welcome Zulfiqar Mirza to the city if he accepted the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s invitation to give a speech at the bar.

Sanaullah said the PPP rally was held in violation of Section 144 and the authorities concerned would take action against the party. He asked why the party had staged a rally in support of the president.

“What are they giving him credit for? He is the most corrupt person in the country. He has gone from Mr 10 Per Cent to Mr 100 Per Cent,” he said, adding that Zardari’s corruption was a threat to the democratic system.

Asked whether the Punjab government would arrest Mirza if he came to Punjab as he was an absconder, Sanaullah said if the arrest warrants were intact, he would be. He said that the expansion of the cabinet was under consideration.

The session was adjourned at 8:30pm till 3pm on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2011.

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