LAHORE, Dec 13: Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Iqbal on Thursday blocked a resolution in favour of construction of Kalabagh Dam.

MMA’s Ali Noor Niazi sought permission from the speaker for tabling a resolution in favour of KBD’s construction but he was not allowed.

Niazi said some political parties had politicised the issue and it was the right time to go for it otherwise “the future generations would not forgive us.”

He said the federal government should act on the decision of the Lahore High Court to build the dam.

PML-Q forward bloc’s Sheikh Allaudin asked Niazi to first persuade his party’s head, Maulan Fazlur Rehman, over the issue before presenting a resolution. Niazi said his party’s head was the late Mualana Shah Ahmed Noorani. Niazi walked out of the house for not getting permission from the speaker. Rana Iqbal did not bother to send someone to bring him back.

A PML-N legislator told Dawn that his party could not afford to annoy the people of other provinces to endorse a resolution in favour of KBD.

PML-Q parliamentary leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin drew the chair’s attention towards increase in ‘fake’ police encounters.

He raised questions about genuineness of 74 encounters including the Gulberg Ghalib Market one, this year. He said nine members of a family were also killed in police encounters.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah responded that all encounters were genuine as 25 policemen also lost their lives. He also declared Ghalib Market encounter genuine and briefed the house about it. He however did not support the suggestion of Zaheer to form the ‘special encounter squads’.

He said the Punjab government had recruited 16,000 constables and 4,000 ASIs on merit. He also blamed energy crisis that led to unemployment, a reason for increase in crime. He said Interior Minister Rehman Malik got issued licences for 60,000 kalashnikovs.

Shiekh Allaudin blamed the authorities for traffic mess on Jail Road. He said there was no space allocated for the parking and service lane was being used for the purpose. He said ambulances were stuck in traffic and the authorities were turning a deaf ear to the issue.

Earlier, the session began about three hours behind its schedule. The speaker adjourned the proceedings for Friday 9am.