PESHAWAR: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government on Tuesday condemned the incident of billboardsâ destruction at the hands of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) activists on May 23 (Friday) and announced that a legal action would be taken against the guilty ones.
| Pick up my jaw, wouldja? I just dropped it... |
âI admit they (the JI activists) did wrong,â MMA Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Malik Zafar Azam responded to criticism from the opposition parties during the 6th session of the provincial assembly since the October elections. He said: âWe have decided to lodge an FIR (First Information Report) by name.â The MMA government would uphold the rule of law and law-breakers should expect no concession, even if they were from a component party of the ruling coalition, he added.
MMA MNA Shabir Hussain Awan, the JIâs district ameer in Peshawar, led the âvandalism campaignâ in which all the billboards, mostly of multinational companies, showing womenâs images were destroyed across the province. Mr Awan claimed responsibility for the destruction at a press conference and vowed to continue the campaign if Akram Khan Durraniâs government did not respond positively to the JIâs calls for Islamisation.
| "I dunnit and I'm glad! An' I'll do it again, an' you can't stop me!" |
Sources close to the MMA government told Daily Times that no FIR had been lodged against any JI man as yet.
| Ahah! In that case, I can put my jaw back where it was... |
JI MPA Pir Muhammad Khan took a strong exception to the remarks of Mr Azam, who comes from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and dubbed his announcement of legal action against his partyâs activists as âillegalâ and âunconstitutional.â
| "Yeah. Bringin' vandals and bands of fascisti up on charges is illegal and unconstitutional in Pakistan. Everybody knows that!" |
When the assembly speaker ordered him to stop speaking out of turn, he staged a walkout.
| "Yeah, dammit! I'm walkin' out! This is what my back looks like!" |
No MPA from the MMA went outside to bring him back.
| "I'm out in the hallway now, an' don't none of you bastards come and get me!" |
Later a woman MPA, on her turn, reminded the treasury benches that it was a tradition of the house that when a member walked out in protest, other members tried to bring him back.
| "Yep. I'm out here in the hall. And don't nobody come for me..." |
MPA Bashir Bilour from the Awami National Party (ANP) said, âWe donât want a Taliban-style government in the province.â
| Somebody'll cut his head off for that... |
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