Dubbing the late governor Punjab Salman Taseer as a 'blasphemer,' Senator Humayun Mandokhel on Monday moved a privilege motion in Senate against a female civil society activist, but deputy chairman Senate reserved his ruling.
Criticising over a female civil society activist, Mandokhel informed the house that a civil society activist, Marvi Sarmad, who is also an employee of United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), invited him to participate in the Chehlum of Salman Taseer through a text message calling him a Shaheed.
Deputy Chairman Senate Jan Mohammad Jamali, however, reserved his ruling over the admissibility of the privilege motion after Leader of the House Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Leader of Opposition Wasim Sajjad and Law Minister Babar Awan in their opinion said that the lady was a private functionary and a privilege motion could not be referred to the privilege committee of the House.
Earlier, while speaking on the motion Mandokhel said that Ms Sarmad had misquoted him in the press release, which had appeared in a section of press and sought that the matter should be referred to the concerned committee of the House for appropriate action. "I don't believe that Salman Taseer was a martyred rather he was a blasphemer and those giving him (Salman Taseer) title of "Shaheed" are also blasphemers," he said.
He further said that Ms Sarmad invited him to participate in a chehlum of Salman Taseer via a text message, in which she had declared him as a martyred. "I got a text message from the lady (Marvi) in which she asked me to participate in the chehlum of 'Shaheed governor Punjab Salman Taseer', and replied to her saying that Salman Taseer was not a Shaheed but a blasphemer", he said, adding "those who tag him a Shaheed are also blasphemers."
The senator also read out the text messages that he exchanged with Ms Sarmad adding it was a breach of his privilege while misquoting him on the basis of the text messages. He also said that his motion was being opposed by those who had done nothing for upholding the sanctity of Holy Prophet (PBUH).
However, Leader of the House Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, strongly contradicted Mandokhel saying that "we are those who come from the descendants of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)" adding that they had rendered many sacrifices for upholding the sanctity of Holy Prophet (PBUH).
Babar Awan said that he was the first prisoner in the federal capital during the movement of 'Tehreek Khatm-e-Naboowat.' He also claimed that the first decree against the blasphemer was issued during first Muslim Caliph Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) period, while the second came during the first PPP government's tenure. The, chair, however, reserved the ruling over the motion.
The House also referred three privilege motions to committee concerned including the one moved by senators belonging to both treasury and opposition benches against the news items appeared in a section of press doubting the status of the degrees of a number of the parliamentarians. The motion was moved by Senators Afrasyab Khattak, Babar Awan, Waseem Sajjad, Ishaq Dar and Neelofar Bakhtiar.
While speaking on the motion Afrasyab Khattak said that some news appeared both in print and electronic media a few days back about the degrees of the members in which the degrees of many parliamentarians were tagged as fake. He said that the privilege of the House has been breached.
He added that he was elected to the House on the technocrat's seat and had submitted his all documents to the Election Commission of Pakistan and no objection was raised at that time. Nayyar Bukhari did not oppose the motion rather endorsed it saying that the motion should be sent to the concerned committee of the House, as reputation of parliamentarians has been hurt and action should be taken against the responsible persons.
The second motion was moved by Azam Sawati, who in his motion said that his privilege as a member of the House was breached by the Managing Director Utility Stores Corporation as he pointed out about the corruption in the corporation and the latter did not bother to provide him any details, despite asking several times. Swati, while speaking on the motion said that "Prime Minister was promoting corruption instead efforts to eliminate it." The chair, however, expunged the remarks of Swati against the Prime Minister.
In the third motion Ismael Baledi in his motion said that he went to meet the MD Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) but the official said he was busy. He said the head of any institution is bound to meet the people's representative and the MD KESC was no exception.
Meanwhile, the house also rejected a privilege motion moved by Senator Hafiz who while speaking said that there were some recommendations regarding the facilities to be provided to Senators but those were not implemented yet. Bokhari and Rabbani however, opined that the Senate can't move a motion against the Lower House. Earlier, senators belonging to various political parties strongly condemned the attack on Senator Zahid Khan's residence in Lower Dir last week in which his guard was killed while brother received injuries.