A delegation of opposition parties' MNAs will dash to Balochistan on Saturday to take stock of the situation in Dera Bugti, following Thursday's bloody 'clash' between the security forces and tribesmen. The opposition parties in the National Assembly readily accepted an offer by Information Minister Sheikh Rashid in response to points of order by some opposition members on Friday. A team comprising at least ten-member will go to the province by a PIA flight on early Saturday morning and report back to the House on Monday, the minister informed the Assembly.
In a light mood, the PML leader remarked in his chamber, "now we will see, who shrugs off sleep and gets up early in the morning to board the flight to Balochistan."
Very thin number of members took part in the proceedings after the Juma prayers, which is an unusual parliamentary practice. The opposition parties flayed the holding of the sitting contrary to the past.
The sitting was held in the afternoon due to parade rehearsal in front of the Parliament House in the morning. Some opposition members spoke on the matter.
The chair deplored the opposition for raising the matter, on which both sides had mutually agreed to in his chamber.
The minister told the House that eight FC men had embraced martyrdom. However, despite the opposition's insistence, he did not say anything about the civilian casualties.
Citing the opposition's concern over the loss of life, Sheikh Rashid said that no one would like to see either a civilian or a military man being killed.
Earlier, PPPP's Sherry Rehman said that according to her information, shelling continued till 1:30 am on Friday and over 70 people were killed and more than 90 injured in Bugti area operation.
She quoted Bugti tribe leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who she said, issued a statement from an unknown location that his personal staff officer had been killed, his daughter injured and part of his residence damaged.
At one stage, quorum was pointed out by Murtaza Satti, however, after the count, 93 members were present in the House. But, after the break for Asr prayers that lasted for 45 minutes, only 15 members were counted, attending the business.
Indirectly, ruling PML leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain supported the MMA's demand for inclusion of the religion column in the machine-readable passport.
He said," there is no need to table the adjournment motion if the government agrees to MMA's demand". This, he said, in reaction to Hafiz Hussain Ahmed's motion that he wanted to move, but was not allowed for the time being by the chair.
Shujaat expected that the government might on its own restore the religion column. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, it is recalled, has reportedly said that there was no need for the column.
Meanwhile, second time during the current session the opposition raised the issue of president's address to the joint sitting of the Parliament and said that the government was violating the Constitution by not fulfilling this requirement.
PPPP MNA Syed Naveed Qamar said that both National Assembly and the Senate had completed their respective parliamentary years, but the president was yet to address the Parliament.
The Speaker Amir Hussain reserved the ruling on the matter, as he already did when on the first day of the current session, opposition members had raised the issue.
State Minister for Interior, Shahzad Waseem told the House that no decision had been taken on the issuance of ID cards to Bengalis and Biharis in Karachi. He was responding to a calling attention notice by four PPPP members. The minister added that the cabinet would take a decision thereon.
Moving the notice, Qurban Ali Shah strongly opposed the move and wanted to know the veracity of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz statement, who he said, had announced that Bengalis and Biharis would be issued the ID cards.
Fazal Ali Jillani, the co-mover, contended that it was a sensitive matter, and should be brought on the floor of the House first.
Contrary to the PPPP MNAs, MQM MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi called for differentiating between Biharis and Bengalis and advocated for issuance of ID cards to Biharis.
"Biharis became refugees in 1947 and 1971. Therefore, they must be issued the cards," he contended.
However, the PPPP members insisted that 1952 rules, relating to the matter, must in no way be violated. To register protest, the opposition has already decided to table a no-confidence motion against Sindh Assembly speaker, they added.
Gayan Chand Singh, a treasury MNA, complained that despite assurances by the chair and the minister for parliamentary affairs, election for the House minorities committee has not been held.
The chair agreed that the assurance was given and called a meeting on Saturday at his chamber to finalise the election.
On a point of order, Syed Nayyar Bokhari urged the government to hold dialogue with the boycotting lawyers in Rawalpindi division.
Comments
Comments are closed.