Development funds: Women legislators complain of bias

PPP leaders want chief minister to apologise for involvement in Mehran Gate scam.

LAHORE: The house witnessed a unique proposal by a Unification-Bloc member on Monday suggesting that the salaries of all men should be transferred to their wives’ accounts.

This proposal came from U-Bloc leader Sheikh Alauddin after a Pakistan Peoples Party MPA accused the Punjab and the federal government of having a biased attitude towards women legislators.

The PPP legislators also walked out of the assembly, but were brought back shortly after the speaker formed a committee to negotiate with the opposition about funds issued to women legislators.

It all started when on a point of order, the PPP’s Uzma Bukhari lashed out at Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP over their “discriminatory attitude” towards women legislators.

She said that PML-N was known for its bias against women, and now, her “liberal and progressive” party was following in the PML-N’s footsteps.

She said that the PPP government had issued Rs500 million for each male PPP MPA in Punjab, but just Rs20 million for each woman MPA.

She said that the Punjab government had promised to issue Rs8 million each to opposition members, but had ignored PPP women MPAs. Bukhari was backed by the majority of the women legislators in the house, who thumped their desks in her support.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said that if the prime minister could issue development funds exclusively to PPP MPAs, the Punjab government was not bound to issue Rs8 million to the opposition MPAs. However, he said, the matter would be resolved in a friendly manner.

PML-N MPA Dr Ghazala demanded that the prime minister sanction funds to all MPAs including PML-N’s.

Alauddin said that a bill like that in Indonesia should be tabled in Pakistan under which the salaries of men were transferred to the accounts of their wives. He said this would help empower women and make them financially strong.

Bukhari rejected the idea and said that it was impossible to implement such a law in Pakistan as most people were daily wagers.

However, she said to Alauddin, “Charity begins at home. So why don’t you, all the cabinet ministers and the chief minister start by transferring your salaries to the accounts of your wives?”

PPP legislators staged a walk out to express dissatisfaction over the release of development funds by the government. They were brought back later by other legislators.

Earlier, harsh words were exchanged between the opposition and the treasury benches over the Merhrangate scam.

PPP Parliamentary Leader Maj (retired) Zulfiqar Gondal and Shaukat Basra demanded that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif apologise to the house for his involvement in the scandal. They also demanded that the Sharif brothers, on an oath, should tell the truth, otherwise the whole country would stand up against their “so called politics of principles”.

PML-N’s Waris Kallu said that President Asif Ali Zardari was the most corrupt person in the country.

Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood stopped the exchange and said that the matter was sub judice. He said that the Sharifs had already issued a statement in this regard.

The current session was then prorogued over the issue of quorum.

Monday marked the 100th day of the Punjab Assembly sessions in the fourth parliamentary year.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2012.