The 'unruly' opposition benches ruled the day in the Punjab Assembly on Monday, as they disrupted the proceedings through creating pandemonium in the House. However, the House managed to pass the Punjab Katchi Abadis (Amendment) Bill 2009 and the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Amendment) Bill 2009 amidst commotion created by the opposition benches.
The session started one hour and forty minutes late and the opposition benches kept raising hue and cry over Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah's allegation against MPA Monis Elahi of illegally buying the Robert Farms. The PML-Q women MPs raised slogans against the minister and refused to allow the House to begin with the business of the day.
However, amidst commotion and uproar created by the opposition benches, the Law Minister managed to table the two bills, which were unanimously passed by the House. On the Punjab Katchi Abadis (Amendment) Bill 2009, opposition MPA Mohsin Leghari opposed the bill on the ground that it has not been properly discussed in the Standing Committee on Local Government and Rural Development. He suggested that it should be sent back to the committee for review, as huge corruption is involved in Katchi Abadis. He said influential have illegally the grabbed state land and turned it in to Katchi Abadis, and after its regularisation they would make huge bucks. But his plea went unheard and was rejected by the House.
The House from the start saw unruly behaviour from the opposition benches. On a number of occasions, the opposition benches ripped apart the agenda of the House, on which the name of the Prophet (PBUH) was printed, and tossed it in the air. This created a wave of emotion among the treasury benches, which accused the opponents of insulting the religion. However, the incident was overlooked by Deputy Speaker Rana Mashud, which calmed the House.
The thumping and noisy opposition benches also did not allow the Deputy Speaker to take-up adjournment motions and laying reports on Principles of Policy and Auqaf Department. They hushed up Shaikh Allaudin's adjournment motion. He urged the house to constitute committee for resolving issues of Jati Umra and Robert Agriculture Farm, which were consuming precious time of assembly.
Later, Punjab Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira tried to address the House on outcomes of latest meetings on National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, but he had to retreat after failing to put his views across the House due to the opposition benches' mayhem. The Speaker intervened and suggested to the Minister to present his report on the NFC in the next session and prorogued the House.
Earlier, to mark the birthday of Allam Iqbal the House unanimously passed a resolution in which rich tributes were paid to the Philosopher of East. As a goodwill gesture to appease the protesting opposition the Deputy Speaker allowed the opposition leader Chaudhry Zaheer to move the resolution.
Immediately after start of the proceeding, Rana Sanaullah intended to move the resolution, but Chaudhry Zaheer on a point of order objected that his name was not included in the joint resolution. He lodged protest that the resolution was being moved jointly by Law Minister and Senior Minister while there was no mentioning of the Opposition leader in it. He requested the chair for including his name in it, besides that the Deputy Speaker should allow any other minister to move the resolution instead of Rana Sanaullah.
Despite resistance from the Law Minister, the Deputy Speaker not only included the Opposition leader's name but also directed him to move it. This surprised the entire treasury benches who seemed to be displeased with the decision. Outside the House, while talking to newsmen, Rana Sanaullah claimed Monis Elahi is involved in the Robert Farms scam and a truth commission should be constituted in order to ascertain true facts.
The Punjab Finance Minister told the newsmen that Punjab has not given up its stance on NFC, it still firmly believe that the NFC should be based population. However, he said, they are open to discuss any formula that is based justice and equity, and Punjab is ready to accommodate other provinces. He assured the people of Punjab that more resources would be available to Punjab under the new NFC. "The NFC should be based on a formula that is acceptable to all provinces, which would serve the interests of the federation," he added.