Opposition walk out as Fata bill removed from NA agenda

ISLAMABAD: The sudden change in agenda of the National Assembly for Monday with exclusion of Fata Reforms Bill triggered strong protest from opposition parties in the House.

The opposition members and those belonging to Fata tore copies of agenda while standing in front of the speaker when they came to know that bill regarding merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and end of Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) which existed on order of the day till Monday morning had been removed from it.

The members of opposition parties and Fata parliamentarians staged walk-out from the House leading to premature adjournment of proceedings due to lack of quorum.

The opposition members also raised ‘Go FCR Go’ and ‘Kyun Nikala’ slogans while complaining as to why the Fata Reforms Bill had been removed from the agenda.

Minister for Safron Lt Gen (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch and minister of state for parliamentary affairs said that draft of the bill needed a review and it was excluded from the agenda due to some technical reasons.

Shahabuddin Khan, who hails from the ruling PML-N, raised the issue soon after question hour pointing out that the Fata Reforms Bill previously was on agenda of day. “This is not our agenda; rather, it is agenda of dacoit who has changed it,” the Fata member said.

As Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi wanted to take forward proceedings, Shahabuddin, who later was also joined opposition and Fata members, said the House could not be run in this way.

Another member from Fata, Shah G Gul Afridi said the government did not consider them as Pakistanis and they were not being given their rights. “The government should ask us to leave Pakistan if it feels that we are traitors,” Afridi said. Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah said the government should clarify why the bill was removed from the agenda, saying that a federal minister himself had announced that the bill would be on agenda of the House on Monday.

Shah said, “I had already stated that the government will not get the bill passed from the House.” He said it was big joke with the Parliament.

The PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi asked did the government realise what political situation it was going to create in the country. Qureshi observed that the government was creating an atmosphere in country’s politics to serve wishes of a few personalities.

As Shah and Qureshi were speaking on points of order, the PTI and Fata parliamentarians reached in front of the speaker and tore copies of agenda. Shah announced walkout as a protest against the government’s move.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly was informed during the question hour that 1.38 million registered and 0.7 million unregistered Afghan refugees are residing in Pakistan.

Qadir Baloch informed the House that repatriation of registered Afghan refugees is guided by the principle of voluntarism according to Tripartite Agreement signed by governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR.

Answering another question, Shaza Fatima informed the House that Pakistan’s exports to European Union increased by 38 % percent in 2016 against 2013 after the grant of GSP Plus status to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ruled suspension of the federal secretary Safron for not appearing in his chamber for a briefing.

The speaker in his ruling said the federal secretary Safron should be suspended for three days for not following his directives. He said the attitude of bureaucracy was becoming intolerable as they never give importance to the Parliament and its directions.

Abdul Qadir Baloch apologised on behalf of the federal secretary, saying the senior officer was newly appointed against the post. He said the official had gone to Peshawar to attend a meeting.

However, the speaker did not accept the apology, saying the Peshawar visit was not more important than the Parliament.

It may be pointed out here that a few days back the speaker had removed two officials of the Ministry of the Interior from officials’ gallery during the proceedings directing them bring federal secretary to the Parliament within five minutes. He said that concerned senior officials of ministries should be present in galleries.

Asim Yasin adds: The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has condemned the government’s move of withdrawal of Fata Reforms Bill at the eleventh hour from the National Assembly agenda.

In a statement, Bilawal said the decision of the government to withdraw the bill smells its hatred towards the people of Fata, but pledged that his party would merge Fata with KP as per the aspirations of the people of tribal areas.

Bilawal pointed out that in August 2011, Asif Ali Zardari amended the FCR and extended the Political Parties Act 2002 to the tribal areas.