Afzal's hanging, MP's arrest rock parliament
Nov 23, 2006 - 11:16:19 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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The house was earlier adjourned at 11.05 a.m. for 10 minutes following similar scenes.
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By Indo Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 23 - The death sentence given to Mohammed Afzal, convicted for his role in the terror attack on Parliament House in 2001, and the arrest of a Samajwadi Party MP in Maharashtra created pandemonium in both houses of parliament Thursday leading to repeated adjournments of the proceedings.
Both houses witnessed noisy scenes as opposition Bharatiya Janata Party - and Shiv Sena MPs shouted 'Hang Afzal' while Samajwadi Party MPs stormed the well protesting against what they termed as the highhandedness of Maharashtra's Congress-Nationalist Congress Party - government in detaining Abu Asim Azmi.
The Samajwadi Party MPs alleged the state government had tried to suppress a rally protesting the killing of four members of a Dalit family in September as well as the Malegaon blasts and arrested their colleague Azmi.
The Lok Sabha, which was adjourned twice in the morning, met at 2 p.m. only to witness more aggressive opposition and Samajwadi Party MPs shouting slogans. The house was adjourned for the day after the papers were laid and a bill to amend the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act was introduced.
Adding to the chaos, DMK MPs also ran to the well demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention into a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over raising the height of the Mullaperiyar dam.
Devendra Prasad Yadav, who was in the chair, then adjourned the house for the day.
As the house met earlier in the day, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called Babulal Marandi, who recently won the by-election in Koderma in Jharkhand as an independent candidate, to take oath as member.
As soon as the oath taking was over, the Samajwadi Party members ran towards the speaker's podium, shouting slogans against the Congress. The Shiv Sena and BJP members were also out of their seats demanding Afzal's hanging without delay.
A trial court had sentenced Afzal to death for his for his part in the terrorist attack on Parliament House on Dec 13, 2001. While the court had set Oct 20 as the date for his hanging, the order was not executed as he filed a mercy petition before the president.
The Telugu Desam Party - members were seen holding placards demanding protection for the livelihood of millions of bidi workers in Andhra Pradesh.
After repeated pleas from the speaker asking MPs to go back to their seats had no effect, he adjourned the house till 2 p.m.
The house was earlier adjourned at 11.05 a.m. for 10 minutes following similar scenes.
BJP and Shiv Sena members raised the Afzal issue in the Rajya Sabha too, forcing two adjournments. When the pandemonium continued, the house was adjourned for the day.
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