The NWFP Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution unanimously condemning maltreatment of journalists on the arrival of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari at Lahore Airport on April 16 last. Both the federal and provincial government of Punjab was demanded of thorough probe of the incident and taking the officials responsible for incident to task. The resolution was drafted after the journalists, covering the proceeding of the house, staged a token walk out to condemn the incident occurred at Lahore International Airport.
A delegation of the MPAs comprising from both treasury and opposition benches visited the Press Gallery to pursuing journalists to end their boycott. Those who came to the Press Gallery included provincial ministers Sardar Muhammad Idrees, Inayatullah Khan and Akhtar Nawaz Khan from treasury benches while Shehzada Gustasap Khan and Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao represented the opposition.
The protesting journalists briefed the MPAs about the incident and called for passage of a unanimous resolution to condemn the government of Punjab for maltreatment of journalists.
Mian Nadir Shah of MMA, whose contents were that the NWFP assembly condemned the maltreatment of journalist and snatching of their cameras and cell phones by the law-enforcement agencies, tabled the resolution. Attributing the incident an attack on the freedom of press, the house demanded of both federal and Punjab governments to investigate the matter and punish all those responsible for the incident.
Earlier, the Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan referred two identical privilege motions to the house Standing Committee on Privileges. Nighat Yasmin Orakzai of the PML (Q) and Muzaffar Said of MMA tabled the identical privilege motions.
Both the PMAs recalled that on March 25, the Public Accounts Committee was on its way to Kohat to inspect an irrigation scheme. However, the employees at the Toll Plaza of the Kotal Tunnel misbehaved with the Speaker and other members of the committee.
They said that despite exemption of the public representatives of the toll taxes they are harassed and misbehaved by the employees of the contractor.
Both MPAs insisted that their privilege motion should be referred to the Standing Committee on Privileges and asked for calling of National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman and Kohat SSP to the meeting of the committee concerned. The motions were put to vote and the whole supported the move.
Abdul Akbar Khan, parliamentary leader of PPP-Parliamentarian through an adjournment motion brought the matter of excessive collection of agricultural tax and agricultural income tax from District Mardan farmers. He said according to a data of the Statistical Division the province has 40,30,000 acres of agriculture tax while Mardan has 2,22,000 acres of agricultural land and has to pay five per cent of the land tax of the province.
As the province, he said collected Rs 40.5 million and according to the proportion of land our district has to pay Rs 2.2 million, but the collection made from the district was about Rs 7.00 billion, which was 400 per cent more than the required target.
He said the agricultural tax ratio in NWFP was more than other provinces and called for bringing an end to the prevailing disparity and ensure justice to the farmers of the province in general and district Mardan in particular.