Final countdown: Assembly begins farewell session with little on the table

Several parliamentarians remain absent from proceedings.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (K-P) met for its last session which kicked off on Monday with little to discuss and debate.

Attendance was limited as parliamentarians from Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were absent from the proceedings.

The session began with Speaker Kiramatullah Chagarmati congratulating the lawmakers on completing their five-year tenure. The movers of two notices were not present, upon which the speaker asked Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Sardar Hussain Babak to introduce the government’s legislation before the house.



Babak introduced K-P Industrial Statistics Bill 2012, K-P Commercial and Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Bill 2013, K-P Minimum Wages Bill 2013, K-P Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Bill 2013 and K-P Motor Vehicles (amendment) Bill 2013.

On a point of order, Inayatullah Khan Jadoon raised the issue of transfer of teachers who have been promoted under a new policy of the education department. He said the decision was taken too close to the elections and lawmakers were now finding it difficult to deal with hundreds of angry teachers.

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s parliamentary leader Qalandar Khan Lodhi agreed with Jadoon and asked the government to postpone its decision, saying teachers have a crucial role in the electoral process.



Babak defended the government’s position and said it had informed all stakeholders through the media about the new policy. He said on several occasions he had seen around 30 teachers in a single primary school, where seven would have been sufficient. Under the new policy, the teacher-student ratio will be more evenly divided, he added.

“If the current government had not made the decision, another one would have, why should we let the opportunity to introduce reforms pass by?” claimed Babak.

Jadoon, however, remained unsatisfied with the minister’s statements, upon which the speaker asked him to discuss the matter further during the tea break.

The speaker also directed secretary education to take up the issue of the illegal occupation of a school principal’s house by a Swat sessions judge with the Peshawar High Court (PHC) chief justice.

The matter had been raised by PPP lawmaker Noor Sahar who informed the house that when the deputy commissioner’s office told the sessions judge about the assembly’s ruling, he threatened them with arrests.

Babak added the education department too had done all that was in its power and took up the issue with concerned quarters. In response, the speaker told him to take the matter up with the PHC.

The session was later adjourned till Tuesday afternoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2013.