Throwing a challenge to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to impede if it could, the government defiantly declared on Friday that the select committee's amended draft of the Women Protection Bill would be tabled in the National Assembly on Monday.
Federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi made this categorical statement in the presence of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League President, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who neither confirmed nor denied tabling of the amended bill, piloted by the committee, and boycotted by both MMA and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).
Pakistan Peoples' Party Parliamentarians lawmakers staged walkout of the House protesting against the continuous political victimisation of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari, and issuance of fresh arrest warrants against them. MMA and PML (Nawaz) did not join them.
"General Musharraf wants to get the bill passed so that he could obtain an NoC from President Bush during his upcoming US visit," alleged MMA Deputy Secretary General Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, earlier rising on a point of order.
He questioned whom should they believe, Minister Niazi or Shujaat, who assured a committee of experts that differences would be resolved prior to tabling the bill in the House.
The MMA leader castigated President Musharraf for not fulfilling a constitutional requirement of addressing the joint sitting of the Parliament, and instead addressing the 'tout' Afghan assembly.
Hafiz Hussain accused the government of prolonging the current National Assembly session that was scheduled to be prorogued on August 31, adding, "decisions taken at the speaker's chamber and the House Business Advisory Committee are unilaterally changed somewhere else".
The government had put on hold the bill despite putting it on the agenda on Thursday, after MMA threatened to resign en masse from the Parliament and provincial assemblies, in case the bill was passed in its present shape, saying it was in conflict with the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
Parliamentary affairs minister made it clear that the bill, drafted in the light of the select committee's recommendations, would be presented in the House after the two-day break and said "let the Maulvis do what they want to." "The bill is in accordance with the Islamic teachings and MMA will fail to bar its passage," he confidently claimed.
However, contrary to the minister, Shujaat had a mild approach, when he took the floor to assure MMA that the government would be looking forward for the mutually agreed experts' committee report on the draft bill. PML leader said that they had agreed to MMA demand that a committee of experts would review it and put forward its recommendations if it found anything repugnant to Islamic teachings. "We have asked the experts on which both sides agreed to point out if they find anything in the bill un-Islamic," he said.
He decried Hafiz Hussain's statement, saying, "only a cursed person can vote in favour of anything contrary to the Holy Quran". Welcoming his statement, MMA leader reiterated support to the bill if nothing contrary to the Holy Quran contained in it. "We will support the women protection bill after this assurance," he maintained.
Another ruling PML MNA Riaz Hussain Pirzada contended that unfortunately, some religious scholars had been blackmailing people by interpreting the Holy Quran and Sunnah according to their own liking. Speaker Amir Hussain ignored his request that the term cursed (la'anti) used by PML president should be expunged from the record.
Minister Niazi, earlier, introduced a bill to amend and update the law regarding sea carriage shipping documents (The Sea Carriage Shipping Documents Bill, 2006).
On a point of order, a minority MNA of the ruling PML, MP Bhandara said that the credibility of the assembly was being constantly eroded by flouting rules and allowing dozens non-points of order and disallowing genuine points of order.
He said that he had in writing requested the speaker over two months back to allow a debate in the House on his resolution on the question of whether or not southern Punjab should be made a separate province.
His resolution was rejected while the speaker allowed several speakers on Thursday for 45 minutes to express their views on the same issue. "We must realise that this way the assembly and its rules are being bypassed," he added. The assembly will now resume business on Monday afternoon and its proceedings could be stormy if MMA's concerns on the women protection bill were not removed.
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