Assembly proceedings: NA gushes praise on minority role

Begins discussion on construction of new water reservoirs .

ISLAMABAD:

Lawmakers in the lower house on Tuesday pledged to stand united for the rights of minority communities as they promised to curb their persecution and take major steps to stop forced conversion of Hindus and misuse of blasphemy laws against the non-Muslims.

“We pay tribute to the patriotic minority members who sacrificed their lives in the war against terror – also for their services in different fields particularly education and health,” said a unanimous resolution, moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Munnaza Hassan on the occasion of Minorities Day.

Speaking on the motion read by Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Michael, Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah said it was a testing time for the non-Muslims and other minorities whose persecution, he said, could not be stopped by the rulers.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in its tenure took a number of steps for the minorities’ welfare but these steps are not enough. We should go the extra mile to protect them,” he said.

Floods and Dams

In view of the recent floods – which have displaced over 1.5 million people, destroyed crops and killed over 200 people since the start of monsoon in mid-July – the lawmakers across party lines called for expeditious construction of new dams.

They, however, remained divided over the contentious issue of Kalabagh Dam but decided to continue debate on the water reservoirs’ issue.

Earlier, MNA Muzammil Qureshi presented a resolution urging the government to take immediate steps for construction of new water reservoirs in order to control the shortage of water.

“A war of water has been triggered now. We will have to pave way for Bhasha Dam and by building it quickly, we will be able to mitigate water woes,” observed Qaumi Watan Party MNA Aftab Sherpao.

PTI MNA Amjad Khan called for an all parties’ conference to take up the issue while Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid called for building small dams in an attempt to overcome the water crisis.

The construction of Kalabagh Dam, however, was strongly opposed by the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who said the River Swat could generate electricity to meet the power demand of the whole country.

PTI MNA Arif Alvi said the environmental crisis must be taken into consideration while taking a water preservation initiative. “Water resource management must take up this issue as water security seems to be a bigger threat now,” he said.

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif said water reservoirs is an extremely important subject and required detailed discussion. “We will wind up the discussion on the issue after listening to more members who want to speak on the problem,” he said.

Senate’s resolution on Minorities’ Day

Through a unanimously passed resolution, the Senate also paid tributes to services of minorities during the Independence Movement and in fighting terrorism and vowed to safeguard their rights in line with August 11, 1947 speech of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The resolution paid homage to Quaid-e-Azam for the promise of equal rights while Chairman Raza Rabbani read out excerpt of Jinnah’s speech famous speech. Rabbani said protection of monitories rights is mentioned 24 times in various provisions and twice in preamble of the Constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2015.