Ashiq Hussain
SRINAGAR: Lawmakers of Kashmir have decided to “fine-tune” their ethics by taking cues from Bihar and Rajasthan assemblies.
The state Legislative Council’s Committee of Ethics has decided to visit the assemblies to study their ethics and rules and to incorporate them back home, an official spokesperson said.
Kashmir’s legislative assembly was in news more than a year ago when speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone traded abuses and used expletives against senior opposition leader, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari.
The incident earned widespread condemnation across the country, but people in the state were shocked as it was for the first time that such unparliamentary language was used by their lawmakers, and moreover flashed across TV channels.
Legislators of the ethical committeee discussed the current rules and ethics in the assembly and gave suggestions for updating these rules, the spokesperson said.
But many say they are amazed at the lawmakers’ decision to travel to Bihar, where unruly behaviour has not been unheard of.
In July 2012, many Bihari legislators were marshalled out of the house by the watch and ward staff after a slipper was thrown at the podium of the Speaker.
Also a woman congress MLC, Jyoti Singh threw several flower pots around which prompted the Speaker, Udai Narain Choudhry to suspend 67 opposition members.
“Of all the places in the country, why did they choose Bihar. This is funny,” said Tariq Andrabi, a local shopkeeper.
“What will they learn?”
