LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly was told on Monday that 99.34 per cent of the payment of sugarcane dues has been made to the growers.

Parliamentary Secretary for Food Malik Waheed, while replying to a written query of a member, told the house that of the total Rs497 billion outstanding dues of farmers, the sugar mills have paid Rs494bn (99.34pc).

The chair, being held by panel of chair-man`s Samiullah Khan, referred the issue of dues payment and powers of the cane commissioner to the standing committee as the mover of the question was not satisfied with the answer.

The secretary also told the house that the government would not procure wheat provided it had sufficient stocks of grain in its storage, but made it clear that there was no plan to dissolve the food department, whose main function so far had been procurement of wheat during the season and then providing it to the flour mills throughout the year on the basis of quota.

Opposition MPAs Rana Aftab and Rnna Shehbaz regretted that the wheat growers were facing financial devastation as grain rate had dropped to Rs2,200 per 40 kg in the open market.

KATCHA AREA ISSUE: The issue of lawlessness in the katcha (riverine) area inRahim Yar Khan district resurfaced in the assembly when Rana Aftab rejected the response of minister Mujtaba Shuja to a call-attention notice regarding five murders in the (RYK) district as unsatisfactory.

PPP`s Mumtaz Ali Chang, through a point of order, said the police had no writ in katcha area though billions of rupees were beingspent on theforce.

He alleged that police officers posted in katcha area had become billionaires, as they in connivance with robbers in the area were minting money through kidnap for ransom and other illegal means.

He claimed that the Anti Corruption Establishment (ACE) had unearthed properties worth Rs1,000 million owned by an SHO posted in katcha area, alleging that the money allocated for police operation in the area was being embezzled.

He alleged that the police officials postedon Sindh-Punjab border were also involved in smuggling of Iranian oil.

He demanded establishment of a parliamentary fact-finding committee to get firsthand information for framing an effective strategy to resolve the problem.

RESOLUTION: The house unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the disrespectful attitude shown by the Afghan counsel general towards Pakistan`s national anthem.

Tabled by PML-N`s Amjad Ali Javed, it demanded the federal government lodge a formal protest with Afghanistan on the issue.

Earlier, opposition leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar termed the arrest of MNAs from parliament lodges was an attack on democracy and cautioned those using high-handed tactics against the PTI that political parties could not be eliminatedthrough coercion.

He recalled that the PPP and the PML-N, now ruling the country, could not be eliminated despite imposition of martial laws and declared that the PTI was facing `civil martial` law these days.

He said the parliamentarians should identify the masked men who had picked the MPs from the parliament lodges as some members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had suspected that the establishment was behind the episode.

Mr Bhachar challenged the government to establish its writ by forming a judicial commission on the May 9 incidents and alleged that the Punjab government desired to stage another such episode during the PTPs Sept 21 public meeting in L ahore by forcibly occupying the cont ainer (being used as the stage for the speakers) at 6pm.