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WEEKLY
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| Opposition assails NRO, stages walkout from NA |
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s session got off to a stormy start on Monday with the opposition chanting slogans against the controversial NRO and later staging a walkout, asking the government to make public the names of the NRO beneficiaries.
It was not just the NRO that marred the proceedings of the House. The opposition also protested over some remarks of Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza when the opposition was raising slogans against the NRO, which led to the oppositionís walkout. The speaker later withdrew her remarks to calm down the opposition members.
The trouble started when the opposition chanted slogans against the NRO and the speaker admonished the opposition for setting bad precedence. This enraged the opposition members and they refused to listen to any federal minister and walked out of the House.
ANP dissident Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti also joined the combined opposition’s walkout. Senior PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi thanked him for expressing solidarity with the opposition.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan once again played his role in defusing the tense atmosphere and requested the speaker to postpone the proceedings till the return of the opposition to the House. He even requested the speaker to take back her remarks.
Another tense situation was averted when Dr Babar Awan requested the speaker to expunge the remarks of Minister for Housing and Works Rehmatullah Kakar against Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in his 30-minute speech protested over the government’s move to change the composition of the Standing Committee of Law and Justice to get the NRO bill approved. Describing the NRO as black law, he declared that the opposition would not allow the government to legalise corruption through parliament.
While reminding the House that the controversial NRO was promulgated in the last days of Musharraf’s rule, he said the people of Pakistan will never forgive the man who came to parliament and showed his fists but then fled the country like a coward. “I assure the House that one day the dictator will be tried under the Article 6 of the Constitution,” he declared.
Chaudhry Nisar said his party would stage a demonstration tomorrow at the Constitution Avenue against the emergency imposed two years ago on November 3. He said that his party would not support any unconstitutional or undemocratic practice. “I assure the House that the PML-N would not lend its support to any one to derail the democratic set-up,” he added.
He questioned the method of changing the composition of the committee to increase the strength of PPP members and appointment of a federal minister as member of the committee negating the rules.
Chaudhry Nisar said he had written a letter to the speaker in this regard but later withdrew it in protest. He said since the constitution of the committee was illegal, therefore, the NRO should be sent back to the committee for review. He said on October 30, the National Assembly secretariat contacted him to postpone the Public Accounts Committee meeting for security reason as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled to visit parliament but at the same time the meeting of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice was held which continued till 4.00 pm. “What was the reason for hurriedly adopting the bill the same day despite the strong protest of the opposition members?” he asked.
“I want to ask those seven members, who voted for the NRO whether they want to legalise corruption by giving a clean chit to criminals and the corrupt.” Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, whose party was in the government when the NRO was promulgated, described the NRO as a black law and said it is the collective responsibility of parliamentarians to demonstrate political wisdom and maturity by rejecting the ordinance.
He said that its passage would undermine the integrity of parliament.Meanwhile the speaker, in response to Ch Nisar’s criticism about the composition of the standing committee, said the members of any NA standing committee are elected by the House keeping in view the numerical strength of that particular party.
She said the House has authorised the speaker to make changes regarding membership of the standing committee on the request of the parliamentary leaders. She said there are many NA standing committees where ratio of membership of the PPP is 8 to 4 PML-N members.
The speaker said ministers are members of many other NA standing committees and the induction of minister as member of the committee on law & justice was made much earlier than the NRO bill and, therefore, his induction was not mala fide.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
