LAHORE, Oct 12: The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution that “dictator Pervez Musharraf should be brought back to Pakistan through Interpol and tried for committing treason and violating the Constitution”.

The resolution moved by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said Musharraf had toppled the democratic government and imposed dictatorship on Oct 12 eleven years ago. It described the coup as the worst tragedy which marked the beginning of black era in Pakistan.

The resolution accused Musharraf of committing serious crime against the constitution, the state and the public, saying now he was giving statements that would damage Pakistan’s sovereignty beyond imagination.

As the House gave its consent to the resolution, PML-Q’s Seemal Kamran came up to oppose it on the grounds that the “resolution contents should be amended to condemn all army and civil dictators”.

Stating that there was nothing more satisfying than democracy, she said the political leaders who struck deals with Musharraf should also be brought to book. She said the movers of the resolution were hypocrite and that “democracy did not come by just by approving a resolution”.

“The army men do not take over country’s rule on their own but only after politicians go and meet them in the dark of the night and use them for their nefarious designs,” she said. She criticised the coalition partners in Punjab for “making fun of each other and converting the august house into a fish market”.

Opposition leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said Oct 12, 1999, would be remembered as a black day in the history of Pakistan. He said the resolution should have criticised all army dictators so that the Punjab Assembly could come up to condemn dictatorship as a whole.

He said Pervez Musharraf had organised election and a government was formed. He said the media highlighted the shortcomings of the government and all parties, except the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, took part in the election and became beneficiaries.

Chaudhry Zaheer said all members in the house were the remnants of the dictators who ruled the country. Now, he said, the present provincial government was hurling threat of long march. He stressed that the condemnation resolution should carry the name of all dictators.

Responding to the speeches from the opposition, CM’s Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfikar Khosa said he had witnessed all the four martial laws imposed in the country and all dictators were accountable to nation as they banned the media and detained and tortured all those who spoke against them. He, however, added that in no country did any dictator arrest the chief justice and send 60 judges packing with a stroke of pen.

He asked the opposition leader who had stopped them from taking action against the dictator when he was in power. At that time, he said, these politicians were saying that they would get Musharraf elected in uniform 10 times. And they never spoke about the construction of Kalabagh Dam. In that tenure, he said, people were killed in mosques.

Mr Khosa said Musharraf would never be able to come back to Pakistan. He also challenged him to land in Punjab and contest election from any constituency including that of Pervaiz Elahi. He said the PML-N would field its small worker who would defeat Musharraf. This remark followed slogans: “Musharraf ka jo yaar hai, ghaddar hai ghaddar hai”.

Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal responded to Mr Khosa in a lighter vein by saying: “You are enhancing Musharraf’s worth”.

Upon voting, the house unanimously passed the resolution.

Finance minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira said the PPP would resist a dictator and added that all cases cleared under the NRO were politically motivated.

Sherdad Gorchani said a case should be registered against Musharraf for toppling a constitutional democratic government.

Dr Samia Amjad said the present government had failed to provide relief to the masses and had presented only one resolution in its two and-a-half years tenure. She stressed the government should have announced that it would register a case against Musharraf in Punjab.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif came to the house when discussion had started on the resolution and left after speeches by the treasury and the opposition. A little later the speaker also left, giving the charge to Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood.

Earlier, the Question-Hour was held and education minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman answered questions. To a question about Care Foundation that had adopted government schools, the minister said he would ask the education department why it did not provide copy of its agreement with the NGO. He also said the government would be required to do legislation to ask the NGOs about their funding sources.

He said the question about return of schools to missionaries should be pended and he would answer this question on Wednesday (today). He also urged the speaker to delay a question about the Punjab Examination Commission as he was not satisfied with the answer provided to him and promised that he would get a detailed answer to be presented in the house.

The speaker put off three public-interest resolutions – spending on the upkeep of the IGP office and two identical resolutions against the imposition of registration fee by the Punjab Boards Committee of Chairmen.

The house passed a resolution moved by Moonis Elahi about the setting up of a Quran University for scientific research on the Holy Quran. The house also passed a resolution about the provision of dialysis facility in Burewala tehsil and setting up of small 15- to 20-bed hospitals in Fatehgarh and Salamat-pura.

The house rejected a resolution moved by Seemal Kamran about increasing time period in the Privileges Act 1972 for the members of the assembly to surrender the official number plate of their vehicles within three days.