Hussain moves privilege motion against private TV channel

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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly referred the privilege motion presented by Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain to the relevant committee on Friday, in which he had demanded that action be taken against a private TV channel for airing baseless news against him and his ministry.
Hussain told the House during the session on Friday, held under the chair of Speaker Kiramatullah Khan, that the private TV channel was involved in airing defamatory news against him and the ministry under him on baseless grounds, adding that such kind of news had breach his privilege and due action should be taken against the channel. After asking the House, the speaker referred the privilege motion to a relevant committee. Earlier, at the start of the session, reporters boycotted the coverage of House proceedings and staged a token protest outside the House. The protest was abandoned, however, when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan told the reporters that their concerns would be discussed on the floor.
Sikandar Sherpao, Nighat Aurakzai, Munawar Khan, Mufti Kifayatullah and several other members of the assembly from the opposition benches condemned the attack on a journalist and said that despite 19 days since the attack, the report of the enquiry committee was still being awaited and nothing substantial had been done. Kifayatullah suggested forming a committee comprising three-fifth and two-fifth of members from the assembly respectively to probe the matter, while Opposition Leader Akram Khan Durrani said that a member from every political party in the House should be taken on a committee to look into the issue.
Treasury members Mukhtiar Ali Khan, Adnan Wazir and Aurangzeb Khan condemned the attack and stressed the maintenance of professionalism and ethics of the profession. Later, the matter was referred to committee concerned. The call-attention notice of Shagufta Malik in which the Awami National Party (ANP) MPA stated that the incumbent vice chancellor of Agriculture University of Peshawar had posted about 312 employees of Class IV grade from a specific locality only, was also referred to the committee concerned. The House also discussed the conduction of screening tests for doctors under the KP Public Service Commission. The issue was picked up by Abdul Akbar Khan, who termed the screening test an “unacceptable phenomenon” being introduced for the first time by the commission. Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah also opposed the screening tests, while Saqibullah Chamkani and Malik Qasim supported it. The speaker asked the provincial Health Ministry to take up the issue with the Establishment Department, and the latter should look into the matter and come up with suggestions. In the absence of Finance Minister Humayun Khan, Rahmat Khan from the treasury benches presented on his behalf the reports of the auditor general of Pakistan regarding accounts of KP for the financial year 2009-10. The records pertained to Appropriation Accounts, Financial Statements, Revenue Receipts, Public Sector Enterprises and Audit Report, and were referred to the Public Accounts Committee with approval from the house.