Noor Khan Niazi, an MPA from MMA, on a point of order said, “The federal government should not allow India to use Pakistan as a corridor for its Afghan trade.” Niazi said that the government had allowed India to do so “under pressure from the US”. He added that the federal government had not consulted the Punjab government before agreeing to the terms and conditions of the agreement. “Our land will be used... The federal government should have asked us,” he said.
Condemning the agreement, he criticised India for not extending the same courtesy to Pakistan when it had asked India to allow Pakistan passage for trade with Bhutan, Maldives and other member countries of the SAARC. He also demanded the speaker that the issue be openly debated in the House at length.
Niazi’s remarks upset the members from the PPP. “We are not under US pressure. We want peace with India.
That is the reason the federal government agreed to allow India,” said a PPP MPA Azma Bukhari, adding that it was not a sign of the government’s weakness.
Bukhari also criticised Niazi for using non-parliamentary language and requested speaker to expunge the remarks.
“Why is Noor taking up the issue? Has Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif surrendered his authority to Niazi?” Bukhari said. Another PPP MPA, Sajida Mir, expressed similar views.
Rana Sanaullah Khan, the law minister, tried to placate the worked up members by requesting Raja Riaz to get a copy of the agreement. Sanaullah assured the House that the text of the agreement could be discussed “word for word”. It was also decided that Senior Minister Raja Riaz and Finance Minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Law Minister Rana Sanaullah from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and leader of the opposition Chaudhry Zaheerud Din and PML-Q MPA Mohsin Leghari will meet and review the agreement.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2010.
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