Punjab Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution with majority in favour of Balochistan to resolve the problems of Baloch people and also demanding action against the killers of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti amid strong protest of the Opposition.
The Opposition opposed the resolution on the grounds that it should have been consulted before the resolution was presented.
The resolution from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) was moved by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah out of turn in the house on Wednesday in which it was said that the time had come to give due rights to the provinces, adding that said the house appreciated the statements of PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif and Baloch leader Sardar Atta Ullah Mangal.
Earlier, the both the parties of Opposition, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) while opposing the attitude of the PML-N on the resolution said they had given the idea of the resolution first.
The Opposition strongly condemned the Treasury’s move declaring it to be biased and political point scoring on Balochistan issue while the PPP government had facilitated them in a special package in the name of Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package. When the Treasury as well as the speaker did not entertain them in the resolution, an Opposition member Seemal Kamran pointed out a quorum to dislodge the PML-N move. Due to lack of quorum, speaker suspended the session for five minutes and after completion of the quorum passed the resolution with majority.
PPP-backed legislators Ahsan ul Haq Naulatia, Ashraf Sohna and Fauzia Behram while opposing the resolution said PML-N’s ‘solo flight’ would not be endorsed by any citizen of the country. They said they respected the Baloch leaders as well as the Baloch people but were not in favour of criticising or targeting the army.
PML-Q parliamentary leader Ch Zaheeruddin and Seemal Kamran said PML-N had done another injustice to the Baloch people after moving the resolution in the house alone while all Punjab people and parties were in support of Balochistan.
The Punjab Assembly session on Wednesday started 25 minutes late from its schedule at 10am under the chair of Rana Iqbal Ahmad Khan. Soon after reciting Quranic verses and Naat, Health Parliamentary Secretary Dr Saeed Elahi answered queries about the Health Department during the question hour and informed the house that around 5500 nurses had been regularised. During the session, PPP legislator Hassan Murtaza who was holding a ‘barefoot protest’ in favour of sugarcane growers since yesterday reached in the house with bare foot and raised the issue on a point of order. In response, the law minister assured the house that the government would resolve the issue by next Friday.
The house passed 10 bills including giving a discretionary right to the Punjab CM Punjab for the usage of helicopter or aero-planes for officials without his permission. The bills passed by the house Wednesday were included the Provincial Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2011, the Injured Persons (Medical Aid) (Amendment) Bill 2011, the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Bill 2011, the Factories (Amendment) Bill 2011, the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Bill 2011, the Hindu Inheritance (Removal of Disabilities) (Amendment) Bill 2011, the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Second Amendment) (Amendment) Bill 2011, the West Pakistan Bus Stands and Traffic Control (Lahore) Ordinance 1963 (Repeal) Bill 2011, the West Pakistan Bus Stands and Traffic Control (Gujranwala) Ordinance 1963 (Repeal) Bill 2011, and the Powers of Attorney (Amendment) Bill 2011. The Punjab Government Servants Housing Foundation (Amendment) Bill 2011 was referred to the Standing Committee. The session was adjourned till today (Thursday) at 10am.
