Punjab Assembly legislators in the 23rd session of the house Friday again agitated on the burning of copy of Holy Qur'an in United States by priest Terry Jones. A number of legislators made a token walkout on the occasion. Legislator Majida Zaidi stressed upon the chair to dedicate a session entirely to discuss the issue. The matter was then referred to a committee.
MPA Ashraf Sohna criticised provincial government for mismanaging and 'doing little' on the matter of federal government's allocation on the arrangement of clean water. He asked the chair to constitute a committee in this regard. Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister Punjab, also, said that water plants were expensively bought by federal government and criticised its ineptness on the matter.
During the session, opposition benches sloganeered against unification block. Three bills: The Antiques (Amendment Bill) 2011, The Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Bill 2011, The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control (Amendment) Bill 2011 could not be deliberated upon due to scarcity of time. On a point of order, legislator Khawaja Islam severely criticised imposition of Sales Tax on Faisalabad textile industry already hit heavily by gas and electricity load shedding and compounded with heavy rates of electricity.
Also, Parliamentary Secretary, Ijaz Kahloon averred that there is no 'ghost worker' at City District Government, Lahore. He informed that there are 17 sanitary workers deputed on 19 posts in the slaughterhouses in Allama Iqbal Town. After dealing with a number of points of order and a privilege motion by MPA Chaudhry Muhammad Arshad about the election of 'Khal Committees' in District Sahiwal, the House was adjourned for Monday 3:30pm by the Chair.