ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The National Assembly on Tuesday witnessed an unprecedented session when 43 members spoke on points of order as a major ruling ally, the Pakistan Peoples Party, managed to compel the government to virtually suspend the heavy legislative agenda for the day, which included 21 bills.

Later, NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq opened the floor for MNAs to speak on various issues.

A source in the PPP told Dawn that the situation would remain the same in the NA throughout the session, with no legislative business taking place unless the government addressed the grievances of the annoyed PPP.

The NA session, which usually starts at 11am throughout the week, except Monday, began at 2:17pm on Tuesday and was later adjourned until 2:30pm on Wednesday (today), apparently to give the government more time to pacify the PPP through back-channel negotiations.

The source also feared that the government wanted to table a controversial bill in the house in a day or so, but it could not be passed without PPP support.

In the National Assembly, a two-thirds majority is mandatory for the passage of any constitutional amendment. While the PML-N does not have the two-thirds majority, the PPP has refused to support any legislation in the NA unless its demands are met.

The NA agenda for Tuesday carried 62 items, including 21 bills, but the PPP did not allow the government to even table the reports of NA standing committees mentioned in the agenda.

When NA Speaker Sadiq started proceedings and asked a lawmaker to table a committee report, PPP chief whip in the House Syed Naveed Qamar rushed to the speaker’s dais and asked him not to proceed with any legislative business.

The attendance of PPP members was quite thin, sending a message to the government that the party would not support any constitutional amendment that sought to undermine fundamental rights of the people or was against the Constitution.

A PPP leader, who did not want to be named, told Dawn that the party was annoyed with the government over alleged rigging in the recent elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, non-compliance with an agreement in Punjab, non-implementation of a written agreement, the issue of new provinces and new legislation.

Terrorism

Leader of the Opposition in the NA Mehmood Khan Achakzai, while speaking on a point of order, urged the NA speaker to hold a threadbare debate on terrorism in the house, which could continue for two to three days.

“Here members are highlighting petty problems of their own constituencies, but the main problem is increasing terrorism in the country as about 40 to 50 people, including innocent citizens and law enforcement personnel, are killed every day,” he said.

“Give two or three days specifically to the matter so that all members can speak on terrorism. Maybe we will find the solution.”

PTI MNA Sahibzada Sibghat Ullah said terrorism had risen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and demanded that the National Action Plan be revisited. He said the common people had taken up arms against terrorists in his constituency. “But it is the responsibility of the state and not the people to fight against terrorists,” he added.

He also highlighted some other problems faced by the people of KP and said farmers had been deprived of fertilisers, after which a food crisis could also surface there.

MNA Hamneed Ullah said the main highway in his constituency in KP was blocked by terrorists for 22 hours. “Money being spent on police and law-enforcement agencies is going to waste. The government has to tell who these people are and where they came from.”

JUI-F leader Abdul Ghafoor Haidri said people wanted peace and equal distribution of resources among provinces. He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was giving no benefit to Pakistan, while the Chinese city of Urumqi, bordering Pakistan, had progressed significantly.

MNA Khushal Khan Kakar recalled a recent incident of terrorism in which 35 police personnel were killed and said: “We have to conduct a debate on this.” He also mentioned the blocking of 600,000 CNICs of Pashtoons.

PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat asked what the role of the NA would be if the controversial 28th Constitutional Amendment was presented in the house.

Other issues raised by MNAs included floods and their devastation, the poor condition of national highways and alleged slackness of the National Highway Authority (NHA), problems related to electricity and gas supplies, 3G and 4G internet services in remote areas of the country, and issues concerning the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Responding to the MNAs’ concerns, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said the government was ready to hold a detailed debate in parliament on terrorism, law and order, and implementation of the National Action Plan.

He said the government was prepared to discuss all 14 points of the NAP without a blame game or political point-scoring.

He regretted that opposition members had not participated in various security-related meetings, including in-camera briefings held under the chairmanship of the speaker. He said the war against terrorism could not be won unless political forces stood united behind the security forces with a common narrative.

Tallal Chaudhry said Afghan nationals had obtained Pakistani identity cards and, in some cases, had also been included in family trees through different means. Referring to Pakistani passports illegally obtained by Afghan nationals, he said around 5,000 such passports had been surrendered in Saudi Arabia alone.

Drugs shortage

MNA Sharmila Faruqi raised the serious issue of the shortage and non-availability of essential and life-saving medicines, calling for urgent intervention by the federal government.

“Price-revision cases of 105 hardship-category medicines remained pending for more than two years despite recommendations by DRAP’s Drug Pricing Committee. As a result, these medicines could not be marketed,” she said.

Among the medicines reported to be in short supply are oral morphine, streptokinase injections, cisplatin, carboplatin, doxorubicin, paediatric digoxin liquid, pilocarpine eye drops, yellow fever vaccine and certain immunoglobulin products.

She noted that the Cabinet Committee on Drug Pricing approved prices for 52 newly registered life-saving medicines on July 24, but final approval and notification must be expedited to ensure their availability to patients.

PPP’s Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig raised the issue of loadshedding in Karachi by K-Electric, and proposed a joint meeting involving the federal minister for power, Karachi-based MNAs and KE’s top management.

UAE’s ‘rude behaviour’

MNAs, including PTI leader Asad Qaisar, said the behaviour of the UAE had turned rude towards Pakistanis since the start of the Middle East war and that hundreds of Pakistanis had been deported.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, responding to the issue, tried to explain the reasons for their deportation, saying: “They (deported Pakistanis) had supported a specific country during the war.”