LAHORE, Jan 1: Out of 371 members of the Punjab Assembly, 254 belonging to the PML-Q and its allies gave vote of confidence to President Gen Pervez Musharraf during its special sitting here on Thursday as the joint PPP-PML-N opposition boycotted the vote , terming it "unconstitutional."
Though the MMA abstained from participating in the voting, its three members - Ejaz Bokhari, Maulana Mufti Ghulam Farid Hazarwi and Fayyazul Hasan Chohan - cast their votes in favour of the President. One PPP MPA Moeen Qureishi, violating the party decision, also cast his vote in favour of the president. He was later on expelled from the party.
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi told reporters that the defection clause did not apply for the vote of confidence. The provincial assembly sitting was chaired by the Lahore High Court Chief Justice, Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry.
Before boycotting the vote, the opposition chanted slogans: "Go Musharraf go" and "No to president in uniform" no sooner than the resolution for initiating confidence vote proceedings as moved by the chief minister was read out in the House.
All opposition MPAs wore black arms bands to mark the occasion as a "black day." The women members came in wearing black dresses.
Deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan, rising on a point of order, told the chair that they (the Opposition) could debate resolution under the provincial assembly's rules of procedure.
When he insisted on speaking on his point, Justice Chaudhry warned him and his protesting colleagues to keep in their minds the fact that he was the Chief Justice everywhere.
However, Rana Sanaullah persisted, saying: "You may rule out my point. But listen to what I have to say. Your office demands that you should listen (to us). How can somebody who dispenses justice decline to hear our point?" He said the whole process of confidence vote for the President was a "fraud with the collective consciousness of the nation."
Opposition leader Qasim Zia also sought the chair's permission to speak amidst anti-Musharraf chants by his members and thumping of desks by the Treasury, but led the opposition out of the House when the presiding officer called for initiation of the process.
SINDH: Out of 168 members of the Sindh Assembly, 99 members reposed confidence in President Pervez Musharraf. The votes cast in favour of the president were 14 more than the simple majority of the House. Two PPP MPAs Sohrab Serki and Bano Saghir violated their party decision and cast votes in favour of the president. No vote was cast against the president.
Twenty-seven MPAs did not turn up while 47 members, who were present in the session abstained. They included five members of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, who did not cast their vote, and 42 MPAs belonging to the PPP who staged a walkout before the presiding officer, Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Sayied Saeed Ashhad, asked the staff to close the doors and start the voting process.
In the House of 168 members, opposition comprises 70 members including 62 PPP and 8 MMA MPAs and one member of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement while the rest belong to the ruling coalition including PML, MQM, NA, SDA, PPP-Patriots, and independents. Of the 27 members, who did not turn up 23 belonged to PPP, three to the MMA and one to Mohajir Qaumi Movement.
Before the start of voting process, the chair read out the resolution for a vote of confidence in the President of Pakistan moved by 14 MPAs according to clause (8) of Article 41 of the Constitution read with rule 3(1) of the vote of confidence for the President Rules, 2003.
The House, which was summoned by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad under Article 109 of the Constitution read with sub-rule (3) of the President Rules, 2003, was prorogued after completion of the business.
The voting process, which began at 11.25 was completed by 11.50am when Chief Minister Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar, who was the last member to exercise his right to vote, left the House after recording his vote.
By 12 noon tabulation work was completed by the polling officers who forwarded their result to the Provincial Election Commissioner, Ahmad Ali Halepota, and Deputy Provincial Election Commissioner Iqbal Saifur Rehman for rechecking before passing it to the Presiding Officer.
Around 12.20 pm when the doors of the House were opened, the presiding officer read out the result at 12.25pm. Earlier, members of the treasury benches led by Chief Minister Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar entered the House five minutes ahead of the fixed time of 11am.
Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah was sitting with Law Minister Iftikhar Chaudhry in the front row. The treasury benches were followed by the opposition side.
At 11.04am when Chief Justice Sayied Saeed Ashhad entered the House he was given an standing ovation by all members of the assembly. But soon after when he took the chair of the Speaker as presiding officer, PPP members started raising slogans.
When secretary of the assembly was about to read the Governor's order, Leader of the Opposition Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and other opposition members stood up asking for the recitation of a Naat.
After the Naat was recited Mr Khuhro and other members of the opposition, including MMA members wanted to offer Fateha for those who died when the House was not in session, including those killed in accidents and earthquake in Iran. But, as under the revised rules for vote of confidence there was no provision for a discussion on any other item, the chair ignored the protest.
When the secretary was reading out the notification of the Election Commission, the Opposition benches started offering Fateha and raising slogans. The chair asked the opposition members to take their seats and started reading the resolution of confidence moved by 14 members of the treasury benches.
NWFP: Thirty members of the NWFP Assembly on Thursday reposed confidence in President Gen Pervez Musharraf here at the assembly hall. The remaining 94 members didn't cast their vote. Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Shakirullah Jan was the presiding officer.
The opposition MPAs termed the special session held for the vote of confidence by the Chief Justice in the presence of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker "unconstitutional and unprecedented."
Twenty-seven MPAs belonging to the Awami National Party, the People's Party Parliamentarians and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chanted slogans against the conduct of the chair and walked out of the House in protest against the voting.
The 65 members of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, led by Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, remained seated on their seats. Two MPAs belonging to the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf and the Swabi Qaumi Mahaz also abstained from the polling.
The MPAs of the Pakistan People's Party (Sherpao), the PML-Q, the independent group and two ANP dissidents voted in favour of President Musharraf. As the presiding officer asked Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani of the PML-Q, Mureed Kazim of the PPP-S and Mazhar Ali Qasim Shah to present their resolution seeking the vote of confidence for President Pervez Musharraf, Abdul Akbar Khan of the PPP rose and opposed the proceedings.
Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the ANP and Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML-N also spoke against the Legal Framework Order and urged lawmakers to boycott the proceedings.
Amid their protest, the presiding officer asked the MPAs to read out their resolution, but they could not go ahead in the noise. The opposition MPAs walked out of the House. Opposition leader Shahzada Gustasip Khan voted in favour of the president.
BALOCHISTAN: Twenty-eight members of the Balochistan Assembly reposed confidence in President Pervez Musharraf here on Thursday at a special session of the assembly. Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court, Mr Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, presided over the proceedings.
Earlier, when the assembly session began, Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar read out the resolution tabled by six MPAs seeking the vote of confidence for the President.
They were: provincial ministers Mir Mohammed Asim Kurd, Asghar Ali Rind, Ambrose John Francis, Abdul Ghafoor Lehri, Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and Shabbir Ahmed Badini.
Later, speaking at a joint press conference Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal of PMAP, Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani of PPP, Akhtar Hussain Langoo of (BNP-mengal), and Rehmat Ali Baloch of National Party asserted that they staged a boycott of the session as they did not want to give validity to what they called an illegal process.
They bitterly criticized the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leadership for what they called betraying the people by signing the agreement with the government.
Senior minister affiliated to MMA Maulana Abdul Wasay said that personally he was in favour of giving a vote of confidence to President Musharraf but followed the decision of the MMA Central leadership and did not participate in the process.
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