The dengue fever epidemic forced treasury and opposition lawmakers in Punjab Assembly (PA) to stand united and join hands to combat the spread of the disease.
Lawmakers across the political divide on Thursday agreed to terminate the current PA session for two weeks on Friday after an open house debate on the dengue fever epidemic and flood devastation. The PA house advisory committee made the decision in the larger public interest during a meeting under the chairmanship of Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Ahmed Khan. Parliamentarians expressed the view that legislators must spend time in their constituencies to monitor efforts to combat the dengue fever outbreak and facilitated flood victims. The joint opposition assured the government of full cooperation and offered full support to relief work.
The house proceedings started one hour and 40 minutes after scheduled time and Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Iqbal Ahmed Khan informed the house about the decision of house advisory committee. He said after mutual consultation it was decided to adjourn the assembly session for two weeks. Meanwhile, Punjab Law Minister asked the opposition to forget the bitterness of the past and join hands with the government to combat the dengue epidemic.
Responding positively to the treasury request, the opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz Ahmed said that opposition was ready to cooperate with the government to combat the dengue virus. On the occasion, he also expressed gratitude over the goodwill gesture from PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to send flowers to President Zardari. He asked the Speaker to pray for President Zardari’s health upon which a prayer was offered for the health of President Asif Ali Zardari. Sharing with positive gestures in the debate, PML-Q lawmaker Semal Kamran praised the decision of the house wish to stand with the people. However, in spite of a friendly atmosphere in the house, the assembly turned into a fish market when PPP parliamentary leader Zulfiqar Gondal and majority of opposition legislators staged a token walk out against the partial attitude of Speaker for not granting permission to opposition lawmakers on certain points. However it was notable that more than 10 members of Opposition benches including Sajida Mir, Begum Sagira Islam, Riffat Sultana Dar and PPP Talat Yaqub and Semal Kamran, Amna Ulfat, Humaira Awais Shahid and sardar Mohsin Leghari of PML-Q did not join the walk out.
Earlier, during question hour, the parliamentary secretary of Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Zafar Iqbal Nagra was grilled by the legislators for not answering appropriately in response to queries. PPP parliamentary leader Zulfiqar Gondal, Shaukat Basra, Azma Bukhari and Ahsan Ul Haque Nolatia were not permitted to ask supplementary questions. The Opposition lawmakers protested and alleged the speaker’s attitude was biased and partial.
The situation for members become odd when anti-dengue spray was carried out in and outside the Punjab Assembly. The members panicked as the alarms rung. Most male members left the House covering their mouths with handkerchiefs and females with ‘dopattas’. The situation forced many lawmakers to leave the assembly hall and created a quorum problem owing to which deputy speaker Rana Mashhud adjourned the house till Friday 3:00pm.
