The PML-N parliamentarians on Wednesday staged a walkout from the National Assembly against delay in the presentation of a report of the standing committee on the accountability bill and accused the government of planning to rig the November 12 Gilgit-Baltistan elections. After speaking on a point of order on issues of the accountability bill and the Gilgit-Baltistan elections, Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan led PML-N's token walkout. Chaudhry Nisar also announced that his partyís leadership during the parliamentary party meeting had decided that none of its members would apply for any plot in the planned Parliamentarians Enclave in Islamabad. "I will request the government to reconsider this plan as it will be a stigma on the credibility of parliamentarians," the PML-N leader said.

About the accountability bill, Chaudhry Nisar said the government was reluctant to put in practice an effective accountability system in the country. "The bill is under consideration of the standing committee concerned for the last three months but the government is finding a way to escape," he said. He recalled that the prime minister had also made a commitment on this issue, about six weeks back but no headway had been made so far. He maintained that the PML-N would strongly react if the government tried to enforce any type of accountability of its own.

Chaudhry Nisar said the federal government was bent upon imposing its government on Gilgit-Baltistan by rigging the elections, something which had started well before the polling day. "The government is utilising all possible resources and machinery to rig the elections in Gilgit-Baltistan," he said.

He said the other day the prime minister visited the area and announced the budget for one year, saying the Baitul Maal chairman was also staying there and funds were being distributed. "Such announcements and actions negate all government's claims of transparent and free elections and it is not acceptable to us," he observed. Nisar also objected to the appointment of the governor for Gilgit-Baltistan. "The federal government could not find any other person but appointed its own spokesman as governor," he said.

He recalled that only two weeks back, the federal government tried to manipulate the AJK prime minister's election but changed its policy following a strong protest lodged by his party. Chaudhry Nisar said he received a letter from the Cabinet Division that the government wants to launch Parliamentarians Enclave in Islamabad. "The government should reconsider this scheme which will compromise the credibility of elected members," he observed.

Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah held out an assurance that the elections in Gilgit-Baltistan would be held in a fair and transparent manner. He asked the leader of the opposition to specifically mention the name of a single federal government senior official, who is in Gilgit-Baltistan to influence the elections.

The minister refuted that the government was planning to launch any housing scheme for parliamentarians in the federal capital. Earlier, all the opposition parties registered a strong protest against the non-procurement of paddy by the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Service Corporation (Passco) as committed by the government.

Raza Hayat Hiraj of the PML-Q alleged that the government was bent upon ruining the paddy growers by not fulfilling its commitment. Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal said 20 centres have been selected for the procurement of paddy, saying the grievances of growers on this issue would be removed. But his assurance failed to satisfy the opposition parties and they staged a walkout, but returned to the House after a few minutes.