Speaker stops MNAs from raising Mukhtar Mai issue
Speaker stops MNAs from raising Mukhtar Mai issue
ISLAMABAD,March 08,2005: Women National Assembly (NA) members of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) on Monday demanded a no-trust motion against Chaudhry Amir Hussain, NA speaker, for his allegedly bad behaviour with them.
The women MNAs boycotted NA proceedings after the speaker disallowed them to speak on points of order to raise the Mukhtar Mai rape case. The speaker told them that they could not raise the issue on a point of order.
When Naheed Khan insisted to get the floor, the NA speaker, in a rather harsh tone, asked her to sit down. That infuriated the MNA and her female colleagues, who walked out of the house and addressed a press conference in the cafeteria. Later, other PPPP leaders complained to the speaker that he should not have misbehaved with the women. Yousaf Talpur, a PPPP MNA, said the opposition did not expect the NA speaker to misbehave. MNAs of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) did not participate in the walkout. If moved, this would be the third no-trust motion against the speaker. The opposition had moved two no-trust motions against him, but the house rejected both.
During the press conference, Naheed Khan accused the NA speaker of ignoring the opposition’s women MNAs, but giving enough time to his favourite members. “I am warning him of his behaviour with me. I will never forgive him for his attitude. This is too much. I am a respected parliamentarian. Moreover, I am a respected woman,” she added.
The speaker’s tenure was a black chapter in the history of the Pakistani parliament, she said, alleging that the NA speaker had no moral authority. She also claimed that several references were pending against him before the National Accountability Bureau.
Source: Daily Times
Date:3/8/2005
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