Joint opposition in the Punjab Assembly on Friday staged a walk out from the house protesting against the termination of NADRA chairman.
Opposition Leader Mian Mehmoodul Rashid of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) alleged that on one side the government was paying tribute to Nelson Mandela for his efforts for democracy but on the other it wanted to damage the democratic norms by dismissing the NADRA DG.
Rashid also wanted to table an adjournment motion ‘out of turn’ against the act of PML-N government, but the speaker did not allow him and the opposition walked out from the house for 10 minutes in protest and later rejoined the session.
The Opposition said a federal minister along with two provincial ministers belonging to the PML-N were involved in pressurising and forcing a judge of the Punjab election tribunal to resign for not changing his (unannounced) ‘decision’ to hold recounting in Lahore constituency, NA-118, three days back.
And, for the same reason, the government authorities removed the NADRA director general from his office and handed over dismal orders to his wife in the night at 2am, Rashid disclosed during the session.
Reacting to this, Education Minister Rana Mashhood assured the house that the elections were totally transparent as all the bureaucracy was reshuffled in the province before the polling day. He also clarified that the NADRA director general was posted by the previous government by violating the merit.
The assembly session started one hour and 15 minutes late at 9:00 am under the chair of Speaker Rana Iqbal. After the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran and Naat, the House adopted the Question Hour on the higher education department and Education Minister Rana Mashhood answered the queries of legislators.
On a point of order, treasury member, Sheikh Allauddin, raised the issue of closure of the Lahore Campus of Bahauddin Zikriya University (BZU) by the government saying by this decision, career and study of 3,000 students was put on stake. The government did not take notice of the campus in the beginning when the public sector departments were releasing advertisements for admissions in the university and the fees was being collected from the students. However, after all the process of admissions was over, the government banned the campus, he wondered.
Responding to it, the education minister said the campus of the university was illegal as the university syndicate did not give it any approval for opening a new campus in the city. It also did not succeed in getting a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), he added.
The campus was going to introduce some disciplines like medical, engineering and law but for that purpose it had not got any approval from the Pakistan Medial and Dental Association (PMDA), Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) respectively as per requirements, he further clarified.
The minister also announced that his government was taking serious legal action against this illegal act of the university and would refer their case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and all the fees collected from the students would be returned to them. He also informed that the education department had pasted a notice on the entrance of the university campus about its (campus) being illegal and unlawful. However, he did not answer about the future of 3,000 students who had taken admission and paid their fees for the Lahore Campus of BZU.
During the session, Mashhood told the House that renowned international democratic leader Nelson Mandela had passed away and requested the speaker to pay tribute to his services and efforts for democracy. The House also adopt ‘one minute silence’ in his respect and paid tribute to the late freedom fighter.
Later, the House resumed general debate on law and order situation in Punjab wherein opposition members – Dr Murad Rass, Sadique Khan, Sunila Ruth, and Khuram Shahzad Sheikh – camp up with their viewpoints.
However, Rana Sanaullah gave the policy statement and told the House that his government was making all out efforts to improve and maintain the law and order and for the purpose a high-tech modern forensic laboratory and IC-3 technology system had been introduced in the province which would start functioning within next two and half years.
Highlighting the system of IC-3, the law minister informed the house that 3,000 close circuit television cameras would be installed across the province especially in police stations to monitor law and order. He informed that high officials of the police department would be able to check the duty officers in the police stations directly through the cameras and their behaviours with the complainants.
After that the speaker adjourned the session till Monday.
