MMA tables amended Hisba Bill in NWFP Assembly

The government of Mutahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Monday tabled another mildly amended Hisba Bill-2005 amid the worst rumpus created by the otherwise a friendly and docile opposition in the NWFP Assembly.
When the Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Malik Zafar Azam took the floor to present a new version of the already adopted Hisba Bill before the House, parliamentary leaders of all the opposition groups also stood and opposed it.
Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, who was presiding over the proceedings, however, allowed the minister to table the controversial bill in the House.
The MMA legislatures endorsed the seemingly a `toothless law', which had been reframed after the Supreme Court's verdict on its controversial portions.
Abdul Akbar Khan of People's Party Parliamentarians, who wanted to speak on a point of order, was disallowed by the chair to make any statement or interrupt the proceedings. He lamented over the attitude of the speaker and reminded him of his impartial role as custodian of the House.
Khan was of the view that the MMA government had already adopted the controversial Hisba Bill in a previous session. "Why, he asked, the government was in so hurry to lay a similar bill in the House?" He said the Supreme Court of Pakistan had not scrapped the entire bill, instead it had ordered the provincial government to delete the controversial clauses from it.
Whether the provincial government, he asked, would withdraw the earlier Hisba bill, which was a law now or it would get a similar law passed from the House.
Khan expressed his wonder over the wisdom of the MMA government, which was according to him involved in a self-contradictory practice.
Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani of Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Bashir Ahmed Bilour of Awami National Party, Anwar Kamal Marwat of PML (N) and Makhdoom Mureed Kazim of PPP (S) also joined Khan and stood in their seats.
They vehemently opposed the Hisba Bill and termed it an untimely move to divert the attention of the people from the ineptness of the NWFP government after the devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people and upside down hundreds of towns and villages in five districts of the province.
In the garb of this law, they feared, the provincial government was trying to make its control over police stations and set up a parallel judicial system. The lawmakers from both sides, treasury and opposition benches, threw copies of Hisba bill on each other.
The law minister himself threw a copy of the bill towards Nighat Yasmin Orakzai, an outspoken opposition MPA.
Earlier, the opposition lawmakers, who had been demanding of the government to notify the calamity-hit areas, walked out of the House against the irresponsible attitude of the rulers. They asked why government was reluctant in issuance of a notification about the calamity-hit districts.
Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai, however, assured the House that the government would issue a notification within next two days.
Earlier, initiating a debate on the earthquake aftermath, MPA Wajihuzzaman from Mansehra, lauded the sympathies and dedication demonstrated by the people of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and NWFP towards the sufferings of earthquake-victims. He said everybody from Karachi to Khyber reached Mansehra, Balakot, Battagaram and Kohistan, except the officials of provincial government.
Pir Mohammad Khan, a dissident of the MMA, said on the one hand provincial Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai claimed that the tents had been provided to all the affected people, while an army spokesman said had tents and blankets not been provided to the people, over 100,000 might have died of cold and rains.
Mushtaq Ghani and Shahzada Gastasap demanded of the government to shift its proposed tents village being erected in the precinct of the Hazara University to another suitable place. They urged the government to start classes at the University instead of turning it into a refugee village.
They asked the government to grant the admissions to all those affected students of Azad Kashmir varsity at the NWFP educational institutions.
Bashir Ahmed Bilour, who had visited quake-hit areas, informed the House that he didn't witness a single government relief camp in Basham, Madakhelabad and surrounding villages of Battagaram and Mansehra.
He said affected people of remote villages were not being approached by the government and only NGOs were engaged in relief work.
Maulana Mujahid Al-Hussaini asked the chair to form a joint parliamentary committee comprising MPAs of both sides to monitor and supervise the relief operation being conducted by the army.