Assembly Speaker seeks response from PDP MLA on breach of privilege notice

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Wednesday sought response from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislative party leader Waheed Para on the ‘breach of privilege’ notice issued for his speech in the house earlier this month.
The notice was issued following a complaint by National Conference (NC) legislator Nazir Gurezi, who accused Para of making derogatory remarks and leveling accusations against him during the debate on the “Motion of Thanks” of the Lieutenant Governor’s address on November 8.
“Accordingly, the matter was placed before the Hon’ble Speaker, who desired to seek comments from Mr. Waheed Ur Rehman Para, Hon’ble Member of the House, in the first instance before proceeding further in the matter,” read a communication to Para sent by Under-Secretary of the J&K Legislative Assembly Secretariat.
Para has been asked to provide his comments within seven days, which will be submitted to the Speaker for review.
Reacting to the notice, Para, a first-time member of the Legislative Assembly, claimed that the move was an attempt to suppress opposition voices in the house.
“There are only five opposition MLAs in the house, and we are trying to raise important issues. This notice is an attempt to silence our voices,” he said. “We will not be intimidated by such actions and will respond to the notice.”
The PDP MLA further claimed that the breach of privilege motion stemmed from an incident during the Assembly session, where an NC legislator was stopped after making a remark about the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and PDP founder, the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. “This motion reflects their discomfort with the Opposition,” he added.