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National Assembly Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi on Friday cut short the debate on loadshedding without conclusion and prorogued the House due to quorum. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MNAs once again staged walkout from the Lower House of Parliament in protest against the non-issuance of National Identity Card to Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) and passport to their party chief Altaf Hussain.
The government also informed the House that separate 'food authorities' have been established in the provinces to check adulteration in edible items. The Deputy Speaker prorogued the House when Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif stood up to start his concluding speech on loadshedding, as Shagufta Jumani of Pakistan People's Party pointed out about the quorum. The Deputy Speaker ordered to count the members in the House. After counting, the Deputy Speaker prorogued the House perhaps due to the lack of quorum.
The Deputy Speaker also did not give the floor to Sher Akbar Khan of Jamaat-i-Islami who wanted to move a resolution in the House against a private TV channel and to talk about the curfew imposed in his constituency in Buner district. While initiating the debate on loadshedding, Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP said the government has failed to fulfill promises made with the people before the general election 2013. He said the government should take concrete measures to address the issue of loadshedding once for all. Sahibzada Tariqullah of JI regretted 13 to 20 hours loadshedding was still going on in some areas.
Pervaiz Malik appreciated the government efforts to resolve the energy crisis and power pilferage. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said IPPs have the capacity to fulfill the demand of electricity in the country but they were facing only financial problems to utilise their full capacity. He said that $1.5 billion which have been received by the PML-N government should be spent on power projects to overcome the shortage of electricity in the country.
Shagufta Jumani said the people were facing 18 to 20 hours loadshedding and they were protesting against the government. She said: "The people are protesting against the loadshedding while writing name of ministers on the animals, which was not done during the PPP tenure." Malik Ghulam Rabbani Khar, Chaudhry Bashir Virk, Ghalib Khan and others also participated in the debate. The MQM members staged a token walkout from the House over non-issuance of passport and Computerised National Identity Card to their leader Altaf Hussain.
MQM Parliamentary Leader Abdul Rasheed Godel said the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has collected the data of Altaf Hussain from his House and law permits his leader of such facility. Afterwards, Syed Asif Hasnain and MQM legislators also protested against the non-issuance of passport to Altaf Hussain and walked out from the House. State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali strongly protested that the name of a person was being mentioned by the MQM legislators not present in the House. There is a constitutional procedure for issuing passport and other relevant documents so the MQM should follow the rules, he said.
The National Assembly was also informed that food authorities have been established in the provinces to check adulteration in edibles. Responding to a call attention notice moved by Parveen Masood Bhatti, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid said the provincial governments were also enforcing relevant laws to curb adulteration of food items.
He said that at federal level, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority has prescribed standard of 78 mandatory products, including 37 food items. He said besides, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources also performs testing of bottled and mineral water on quarterly basis and strict action was taken against the companies who do not follow the prescribed standards.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014

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