In another show of discord between the coalition partners in the treasury, two government members sought resignations from Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour in order that the performance of both ministries could improve.
Both members who sought resignations from the PPP and ANP ministers belonged to the MQM.
Speaking on a point of order, Sajid Ahmed Khan of the MQM said the situation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was deteriorating each day.
“I suppose if the defence minister submits resignation, PIA’s situation could improve. If matters of the PIA could not be improved in four years under Mukhtar, what betterment could come in the next few months,” he said. Mukhtar was not present in the House to respond to the remarks.
Earlier, MQM legislator Asif Hasnain sought resignation from the railways minister, saying he was responsible for the downfall of the railways. However, Bilour said he would not resign and rather the MP should seek resignation from the finance minister who was not releasing funds for railways.
Earlier, PPP’s Sumsam Bokhari urged the government to take strong action against those who were killing the followers of Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his Ahl-e-Bait. He said the government had turned a blind eye to criminals who had attacked a procession on Eid Milad-un-Nabi in Mansehra. He said the killed people were either those who stood for Sunnah or those who followed Ahl-e-Bait. He said some Jewish lobbies were behind the act to get the Muslims divided.
Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Ministry Rai Mujtaba Kharal also expressed concern over the growing acts of terrorism against the followers of Sunnah and assured the House that the Law Ministry would take strict action and a report would be submitted to the House.
Responding to a calling attention notice about the abundance of obscene websites on the internet, Parliamentary Secretary for Information Technology Nawab Liaquat Ali Khan said the government had blocked around 13,000 obscene websites. He said it was difficult to block thousands of such websites as there was no proper system for it. He said China and Iran had introduced an auto-filtration system, but it was very costly.
Speaking on a point of order, PML-N legislator Abid Sher Ali came down hard on Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar for his statement regarding an end to load shedding.
He said that the minister should not have made a claim in the House that he could not uphold.
Responding to the outburst, Qamar clarified that he had had said that there would be a by-and-large control on load shedding in the country.
Responding to a calling attention notice regarding excessive electricity bills throughout the country, particularly those issued by the KESC in Karachi, Qamar said there was no possibility to shift the burden of any consumer of electricity to another.