Minority concerns: No room in the House for urgent debate

Session adjourned over lack of quorum for the second consecutive day.

LAHORE:

Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan turned off a Christian member’s mike on Friday when he tried to discuss government transgression on church properties in the city.

The MPA was told by the Speaker to follow House rules for debating an issue.

The session was a short one, starting late and ending early. It started at 10:38 am, instead of the scheduled time of 9am, and lasted one-and-a-half-hour. Only 26 members were present when the session started.

Rising on a point of order, PML-Q’s Shahzad Elahi objected to “demolition of churches” in the city. He said razing churches seemed to be the government’s “mission”. January 10, he said, had been a dark day for Christians since the Lahore Development Authority had pulled down a portion of a property in Garhi Shahu owned by Catholic Church. He called the bulldozing “shameful and condemnable”. “The Bible was desecrated during the operation,” he said.

The minority MPA reminded the house that Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had assured the minorities that their rights and properties would be protected. “The white part of the national flag gives us the right to speak up, to raise our concerns and live peacefully. But the Punjab has become a living hell for [minorities],” Elahi said.

At this point, the Speaker interrupted him and told him to follow rules of procedure and submit a document in writing if he wanted the House to take up the issue. Elahi’s mike was switched off when he did not stop. A hot exchange between Elahi and the Speaker followed that ended with Elahi pointing out the quorum. I will not allow the House to conduct business if Christians’ grievances are not addressed, the PML-Q member said while pointing out the quorum.

The session was then adjourned till Monday.

It was for the second consecutive day that the session ended early because the treasury benches failed to maintain quorum.

According to the Rules of Procedure of Punjab Assembly at least 93 members should be present for the House to conduct business.

Earlier, Malik Nadeem Kamran answered questions about the Information and Culture Department. The House did not discuss the Annual Report of Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta), 2010-2011 although the subject was on the agenda.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2012.