'N undermining Parliament: JUI-F senators

ISLAMABAD - Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) (JUI-F) in the Upper House of the Parliament lashed out at PML-N on Tuesday for its move to approach the Supreme Court over the appointment of leader of opposition while terming it tantamount to undermining the supremacy of the Parliament. Reacting to the other days remarks of Raja Zafrul Haq that PML-N would consider to move to the court against the decision of Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Leader of the Opposition, assaulted PML-N saying that it was a bid to challenge the supremacy of the Parliament. He said this after the debate on the appointment of leader of the opposition could not start on Tuesday, as PML-N did not turn up in the Senate due to its continuous boycott of the budget debate. Ghafoor Haideri while addressing the chairman, said that they did not want discussion on the issue but agreed after his decision to review the notification of his appointment and PML-N was backtracking his earlier commitment for holding debate for three days from 15th of June. If they (PML-N) go to the Supreme Court on the appointment issue, it will expose the true face of PML-N, he added. The Chairman with the start of the House proceedings wanted that the debate should be initiated on the appointment of leader of the opposition but S.M. Zafar who had to give his arguments on the issue and Mian Raza Rabbani both wanted that the issue should be discussed after PML-N would end boycott of the house. Haji Ghulam Ali of JUI-F in his continuous tirade against PML-N said that it should not drag the Supreme Court (SC) in political matters rather these issues should be solved in the Parliament. He condemned PML-N for making the PML-Q dissidents a part of the Punjab government accusing it of promoting the culture of floor crossing. MQM from the treasury benches walked out from the House after Tahir Hussain Mushhadi raised the issue of killings in Karachi specially citing the incident of killing of six persons including two workers of his party in Orangi Town of metropolitan, the other day. The journalists covering the Senate proceedings also staged a token walkout over the abduction of a local journalist, Jamal Tarkai of Quetta, allegedly by law enforcement agencies last night. Jamal Tarkai had made footage of the Kharotabad incident in which FC killed five Chechens. Police reportedly kept Jamal Tarkai into its custody despite the clear ruling of Chairman Senate directing the concerned authorities of Sindh and Balochistan to provide protection of lives to those journalists who made footages in two separate incidents of extra judicial killings in Karachi and Kharotabad. The media persons termed the abduction of Jamal tantamount to breaching the privilege of the House. Later, they ended the walkout on the assurance of Azam Khan Swati and Gul Mohammad Lot that the issue would be raised on the floor of the House. Azam Khan Swati sought report from the House as to why the ruling of the chair was not implemented and what would be the follow-up of the issue. JUI-F also staged a token walkout from the house on the governments attitude for not providing protection to the journalists. Lashker-i-Raisani of PPP also raised the issue of torture of Jamal Tarkai and Dr Baqir Shah, a surgeon who conducted postmortem of five Chechens, by law enforcement agencies. He asked that who would provide protection to journalist as they were facing danger from institutions of the state and who would get guarantee from these not to do so in future. Leader of the House, Nayer Hussain Bokhari remarked that it was the criminal offence and cases should be registered against the accused. Chairman Senate Jan Mohammad Jamali gave another ruling to form a special subcommittee including senators from Sindh and Balochistan to ascertain the facts why the previous ruling of Chairman Senate was not implemented and to determine the criminal responsibility on the accused. Mian Raza Rabbani read out an open letter in the House, drafted with the help of ANP leader Afrasayab Khattak to give the roadmap for the initiation of a national debate what he termed 'counter narrative that would help the country in forming a national strategy to combat internal and external terrorism. Haji Ghulam Ali of JUI-F condemned hard tone of Rehman Malik during his speech that he made on the floor of the house to informing the steps made by the government after the killing of a young man by Rangers in Karachi. Sameen Siddiqui condemned the opposition lawmakers for their unnecessary walkouts from the house during the important budget session while Kalsoom Perveen criticized the Ishaq Dar and Haroon Akhtar for not giving their recommendations on the Finance Bill 2011-12. Dr Khalid Soomro of JUI-F was the only lawmaker who took part in the budget debate before the house was adjourned till Wednesday at 10:30 am due to lack of quorum pointed out by treasury member, Shahid Hussain Bugti. Dr Khaild Soomro said that the recommendations of his party on Finance Bill 2011-12 should be implemented and changed should be made in the budget document to make it pro-people one. He suggested the government the need to adopt the policy of self-reliance by giving up the practice of getting loans to run the economy of the country.

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