Former Deputy Chief Minister and PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig today contested validity of privilege motion moved against senior leaders of his party including Mehbooba Mufti and other MLAs by the ruling party, the National Conference members, in the Legislative Assembly yesterday saying the PDP hadn’t submitted any documents in the House.
As the House began its proceedings for the day, Mr Baig, who had served as Finance, Planning and Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister in previous PDP-Congress coalition Government, described the privilege motion against the PDP MLAs as ``groundless and baseless’’ and urged Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to outrightly reject it.
Mr Baig, who was allowed to speak by Mr Lone before start of the Question Hour, referred to the privilege notices received by the PDP members. He said it has been mentioned in the privilege motion notices that six PDP MLAs have presented documents in the Assembly, which "misled the House’’.
"We want to know when actually we presented the documents’’, the PDP leader said maintaining that the PDP had asked for a discussion in the House on Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) scam which the Speaker didn’t allow.
"We couldn’t present any documents as discussion was not allowed in the House. As such, the charges mentioned in the privilege motion were groundless and baseless, which deserved to be rejected by the Speaker on the ground that no documents mentioned in the privilege motion notices had been presented in the House’’, Mr Baig said.
The Speaker asked Mr Baig to give comments in writing in response to the privilege notices issued to the PDP MLAs. He said if the claim of Mr Baig was proved correct the privilege motion would be rejected and, if not, he would act accordingly under the rules.
Worthwhile to mention here that National Conference MLAs including Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, former Minister, Saifullah Mir, Nazir Ahmed Gurezi and Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo and Independent MLA Tsetan Namgayal had moved privilege motion against PDP Legislature Party leader Mehbooba Mufti and other MLAs including Abdul Gaffar Sofi, Abdul Haq Khan, Syed Bashir, Peer Mansoor Shah and Javed Hussain Mir under Rules 238 and 239 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.
The NC MLAs has charged the PDP members with leveling ``baseless and unfortunate allegations’’ with the ``intentions to mislead the House and deceive its members’’, which resulted in breach of privilege.
The NC members had already pointed out yesterday that all allegations leveled by the PDP in the House against Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, National Conference president and JKCA head, Dr Farooq Abdullah should be expunged from the proceedings as Dr Abdullah was not a member of the House and couldn’t defend himself. The Speaker had expunged the remarks against Farooq.
Independent MLA from Langate Engineer Abdul Rashid, like yesterday, was again on his feet today regretting that the Government has failed to pay ` 2 lakh worth compensation to Kunan Poshpora rape victims of 1990.
"The rape victims didn’t get anything. None married them. Whether the Government will apologise for the incident? Whether any direction will be issued for payment of relief to the victims’’? Mr Rashid asked.
NC’s three time MLA from Kupwara, Saifullah Mir asked Mr Rashid not to highlight the incident of Kunan Poshpora in the House repeatedly.
"Kunan Poshpora falls in my constituency. Don’t defame the people again and again. Don’t politicize the issue’’, Mr Mir said, addressing Mr Rashid as both had heated exchanges on the issue. Rashid continued shouting from his seat for sometime.
Congress MLA from Banihal, Vakar Rasool also joined the issue saying Engineer Rashid always wasted time of the House by creating trouble. He demanded that he should be removed from the House.
Speaking to media persons outside the Assembly, PDP Legislature Party leader Mehbooba Mufti alleged that since a top man of the National Conference was involved in bungling/embezzlement in the JKCA they wanted to bulldoze the voice of the opposition party by bringing in privilege motion against the party members.
"There has been enough proof that the NC leader was involved in the scam. The ruling party wanted to silence the voice of the opposition party’’, she said.
Referring to the privilege motion, Mehbooba said the documents were only waved in the House. "How the Speaker saw the documents when we didn’t hand over the papers to him’’? she asked.
Ms Mufti claimed that records of bank and JKCA were enough to probe corruption and bungling in the Association.
NC leader Saifullah Mir told the reporters that the party has moved privilege motion against the PDP MLAs including Ms Mufti as the opposition party was trying to defame the National Conference president by leveling "baseless allegations’’ against him.
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