The 22nd session of the assembly was due to begin yesterday at 3 pm, but proceedings did not get underway till 4:45 pm. The first order of the day was the announcement of a Panel of Chairmen, made up of treasury MPAs Asad Ashraf, Mian Yawar Zaman and Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dareshak and opposition MPA Bushra Nawaz Gardezi. When the speaker and deputy speaker are unavailable, one of these members will chair the house.
Opposition Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin then rose to voice support for protests on Friday denouncing moves to amend the blasphemy law. He led the opposition benches outside the house for a “token one-minute walkout” to express solidarity with the protesters.
Members from the treasury benches shouted out that they too were against changes to the blasphemy laws as the opposition members walked out.
“Let me reassure you, the Punjab government and its allies will not consider any leniency for actions that hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims,” said Law Minister Rana Sanaullah. “The laws are fine, but we also cannot allow any law to be misused.”
The minister said it was ironic that the opposition MPAs had protested on this issue, since it was their ‘leader’, General Pervez Musharraf, who had encouraged discussion on repeal of the blasphemy laws when he was president.
Question hour
Friday’s question hour was dedicated to the transport and tourism departments, though several opposition MPAs voiced anger that instead of the ministers concerned, their questions were being answered by parliamentary secretaries.
Nighat Nasir Sheikh of the PML-N asked how the Tourism Department had spent a Rs7 million grant in 2009-10 meant for the upgrade of the Tourism Development Corporation of Pakistan (TDCP) motel in Fort Munro.
Rana Arsahd, parliamentary secretary for tourism, responded that the department had decided not to spend the money on upgrading the motel, as the number of tourists to the area was falling because of security fears.
Engineer Qamar Islam Raja, an opposition MPA, asked whether it was true that the Lahore Transport Company was hiring wardens from the Traffic Police as its traffic inspectors. Khurram Gulfam, parliamentary secretary for transport, responded that 10 traffic wardens had initially been sent to the LTC as an attachment, but the Traffic Police had later withdrawn them because they were short of staff.
He said the LTC was looking to recruit 200 inspectors, but it no longer required applicants to have experience as traffic wardens. There will be a fitness test for applicants on January 3, he said.
After question hour, there were brief discussions on a few points of order and an adjournment motion was disposed of. At 7:15 pm, opposition MPA Samia Amjad pointed out that the quorum was incomplete. The speaker waited five minutes for more MPAs to come in, failing which he adjourned the session till 3pm on Monday.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2011.
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