Punjab Assembly has passed the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2006 on Monday, in which mode of voting has been changed to 'show of hands' in niab nazim elections, which the opposition termed as violation of the Constitution.
The House also passed the Punjab Revision of Emoluments of Public Representatives Bill 2006 and the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill 2006.
Punjab Law Minister Muhammad Raja Basharat tabled the bill before the House, which was rejected by the opposition benches. Ihasanullah Waqas and Arshag Bagu of MMA and Ran Aftab of PPP spoke against the bill and said that the amendment was in violation of the Constitution, since it clearly states that all kind of election would be carried out through secret balloting.
They were of the view that secret balloting was an effective way for the public representatives to voice their views without any pressure. Through show of hands, voters would easily succumb to the pressure of the rulers and would be forced to toe their line, they added.
They also said that this was being done on the instruction of President Pervez Musharraf, thus the House has a no choice but to pass the bill, which undermines the autonomy of the provinces and deliberately curtailing the role of legislators.
Earlier, during the debate on the Punjab Revision of Emoluments of Public Representatives Bill 2006, a few leading members of the opposition were against the increase in the salaries and allowances of the legislators. The opposition benches were divided on the issue and many attacked the front benchers of the Opposition for opposing the bill. They argued that those who oppose the increase should forgo their salaries, why deprive the others of the increase.
The matter become very serious in the heart of the legislators and out rightly criticised by Deputy Opposition Leader Rana Sanuallh, Rana Aftab, Ihsanuallah Waqas, Arshad Bagu and Sheikh Ijaz, opposed the bill by saying that the increase is unjustified in the backdrop of increasing poverty and deprivation that was forcing poor to commit suicides.
They were of the view that the 'enhancement' would send a wrong message to the masses and spread discontent. "We would be pocketing the taxpayers' money without any justification," they added.
Rana Sanaullah pointed out that the enhancement of salaries and allowances is more than double, which could have been lesser. He revealed that the Law Minister had agreed with him not to increase the salaries, but he succumbed to the pressure of his party legislators. He said that it was an astonishing contrast to see huge spending on President, Prime Minister, Governor and Chief Minister Houses while the majority of the people were without clean drinking water and living in poverty. "Could the rulers justify the enhancement under these circumstances," he added.
This prompted the Law Minister jump in and clarified that a committee was constituted on the matter that included both the members of the treasury and opposition benches and developed a consensus on the enhancement. He emotionally said that those who feel strongly on the matter should forgo their salaries and he would join them. "I did suggest to our legislators to forgo the enhancement, but they opposed the idea. It is a democratic right of the legislators to get their salaries and perks enhanced," he added.
He took the opportunity to silent the opposition by saying that the Opposition Leader himself was drawing allowance to pay electricity bill for his house, 'what does that reflect'. He also pointed out that the attendance sheet for today's proceeding shows the presence of a very senior legislator, but he is not in the building, 'is this justified on any account'. It became clear that he was referring to Qasim Zia when a ruling legislator shouted that that person was not in the country.
However, the Punjab Revision of Emoluments of Public Representatives Bill 2006, was passed with thumping majority, which doubled the salary package of legislators. A legislator that drawing Rs 23,000 has been almost doubled to Rs 43,000 per month.
Later, the Law Minister tabled the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill 2006 before the House that proposed compulsory registration of madaris. Keeping to its tradition, the opposition benches opposed the bill.
Arshad Bagu and Ihsanullah Waqas stated that the bill was formulated with the aim of limiting the function of madaris and was being done on the instructions of the US. They said the government has adopted a discriminatory role against madaris. "If the government's intention is to check organisations that are earning the country bad repute or involved in corruption, then the NGOs should also scrutinised on the line of madaris," they added.
The University of Central Punjab (Amendment) Bill 2006 was also in the business agenda, but it was withdrawn by Punjab Education Minister Imran Masood on the pretext that due recent changes in university rules certain improvements were needed in the bill.Later the Speaker adjourned the House till Tuesday morning.