PESHAWAR, March 28: The maiden session of the 13th NWFP assembly on Friday was an unusual occasion for senior lawmakers and visitors as the house witnessed rumpus, chanting of slogans and war of words among the members.

Under the procedure and conduct of business rules, 1988, of the assembly, lawmakers are supposed to take oath and sign the roll of members on the first day.

The next day the house elects speaker and deputy speaker, followed by the election of the leader of the house. But even before the start of the oath-taking ceremony on Friday, Arbab Ayub Jan, who presided over the session, faced a volley of questions, points of order and call-attention notices. The unwarranted debate on different issues pushed the presiding officer and the staff into an awkward position.

One elected member from Kohat walked out of the session without taking oath and signing the roll. Senior legislators Mian Iftikhar Hussain and Ayub Tanoli intervened to restore order in the house, but they did not succeed.

The assembly passed two unanimous resolutions: one resolution was related to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the other to the publication of sacrilegious cartoons in Danish newspapers.

After the passage of the resolutions, the members started formal debate on issues like law and order situation, loadshedding, restoration of judiciary and unemployment. An enthusiastic member demanded funds for development works for his constituency.

“I am surprised that to whom the members made demands and adopted resolutions, when the house is incomplete, the government has not been set up and their deliberations other than swearing-in have no legal status,” remarked a senior official at the assembly secretariat.

Thanks to the Friday prayers, otherwise it could have been a difficult task for the presiding officer to wrap up the proceedings. Cross talk, use of cellular phones during proceedings and hovering crying sparrows inside the hall marred the inaugural session. Members of the PPP chanted slogans of “Jeay Bhutto”. ANP members voiced “Bacha Khan Zindabad” and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) MPAs raised slogans of “Long Live JUI”.

On one occasion, members of the Awami National Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q were about to engage in physical bouts over the issue of Pakhtunkhwa as the name of the province.

The trouble started when in his speech Mian Iftikhar Hussain of the ANP repeatedly called the NWFP Pakhtunkhwa. Nighat Orakzai of the PML-Q replied by saying it was an alien name, which had no mention in the Constitution. It was NWFP in the Constitution. She asked him not to use an unconstitutional name.

ANP’s Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the august house had adopted a unanimous replacing the name of the NWFP with Pakhtunkhwa. He said they would call it Pakhtunkhwa.A member from the upper Hazara region got furious when Shazia Tehmas of the PPP tried to tell him the difference between a point of order and an adjournment motion.

The MMA member could not swallow the remarks and took it as an attack on his masculinity and knowledge. He reminded her that he had won the election for the third time and he knew how to speak in the house. Other MPAs solaced him.