Opposition protests govt indifference in K-P Assembly

Later stage protest outside Chief Minister House

PESHAWAR: As the provincial assembly resumed after an extended break on Wednesday, it soon descended into chaos after the opposition members started protesting over the dismissive attitude of the government towards their reservations who managed to push two bills through the house.

Later, the opposition lawmakers took their protest to outside the Chief Minister House.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly resumed on Wednesday afternoon with Speaker Mushtaq Ghani in the chair.

During the session, the K-P Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan presented three bills including the K-P Local Government (Second Amendment) Bill 2019, the K-P Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill 2019, and the K-P Panagah Bill 2019.

K-P Mines and Minerals Minister Dr Amjad Ali presented a bill on the K-P Mineral Sector Governance (Amendment) Bill 2019.

Sultan explained that the amendments were immediately required for the development of the newly-merged tribal districts (NMTDs).

Dr Ali said that unnecessary delays in passing the legislation had affected revenue generation and overall development of these areas.

Shafiq Afridi, a member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) from the Khyber Tribal District, argued that most lands in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) are under collective ownership which delays the process of leasing land. He hoped that the new legislation will address this issue.

As the bill was passed, the opposition benches protested. They claimed that the government is attempting to bulldoze laws through the assembly without engendering any debate or considering their objections.

The opposition members then surrounded the speaker’s dais and tore copies of the day’s agenda as they protested for quarter of an hour. They announced to stage a protest outside the CM House as well.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) legislator Nighat Orakzai accused the government of pushing the opposition members to the wall.

“The government should bear in mind that that we will not allow this to happen anymore,” she said, adding that they will protest.

She then joined other opposition lawmakers who had walked out of the K-P Assembly to protest outside the CM House.

“The opposition has been corned in all sectors,” said Awami National Party (ANP) Parliamentary Leader Sardar Hussain Babak, adding that “despite court orders, the opposition has been deprived of development funds.”

Lawmakers chanted slogans against the unfair destruction of funds, adding that owing to the protest by opposition members outside the CM House should shake the chief minister out of his stupor and that he should resign because he is the chief executive of a province and not just one (ruling) party.

Meanwhile, in the K-P Assembly, the government utilised their superior numbers to pass the bills on minerals sector and local government.

New members take oath

Earlier, when the session started, two newly-elected members from the NMTDs took the oath of office.

Speaker Ghani administered the oath to the women reserved seat candidates Baseert Bibi of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Aisha Khan of PTI.

After the ceremony, all members of the house congratulated them and welcomed them to the house.

In her speech, Baseert said that she will adhere to her party’s manifesto while attempting to solve problems of the tribal areas in the assembly. She added that residents of the tribal areas facing considerable problems and that every effort will be made to address these issues.

Probe into Tank incident

During the session, K-P Health Minister Dr Hasham Inamullah Khan told opposition members that they have summoned a meeting of Tank and Lakki police to arrest those involved in the murder of 14 people in Amakhel area of Tank district.

He was responding to a point of order raised by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) lawmaker Mehmood Bhitani.

The opposition lawmaker had earlier lamented that no one has been arrested by the police even though families of victims were given assurances that the killers will be caught by November 5.

He further argued that the motive for the clash was not any altercation between either the Marwat and the Bhitani tribes, rather it was callous incident whose perpetrators were known to everyone. He threatened to stage a protest if the killers were not arrested by November 20.

Dr Hasham assured him that a meeting of Lakki and Tank police will be summoned to coordinate and arrest the culprits. He added that these criminals roam between Lakki and Tank districts and are involved in other criminal activities including extortion, kidnapping and murder. He also assured all support to Bhitani.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2019.