The National Assembly (NA) was informed that over Rs220 billion have been provided by the government to the provinces and agencies concerned to counter terrorism during the past five years.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, in a written reply, told the House that irregularities in the utilisation of funds provided to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police under Prime Minister’s (PM’s) package were pointed out by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the cases are presently sub judice in NAB courts.
Interior and Narcotics Parliamentary Secretary Maryam Aurangzeb told the House that the Interior Ministry has arranged 40 forty bomb disposal response vehicles with relevant equipment from Britain and United States out of which 25 are yet to be received.
She said that five such vehicles with equipment have “already been handed over one each to Islamabad Capital Territory, Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochistan and the remaining are in the process of allocation”.
“The operational deployment of Bomb Disposal Response vehicles will significantly enhance the capability of provinces to effectively counter attacks by improvised explosive device attacks, including preservation of crime scenes and investigation,” she said.
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan told the House during question hour that the team of Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan will be completed shortly.
He said the performance of Pakistan Steel, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Railways has been improved considerably after receiving loans from the government.
Answering a question, Afzal said, “34,501 vehicles of different categories have been imported during 2013to 2014 from Japan, UAE, UK, US, Australia, Germany, China, Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia.”
“The imported vehicles include agricultural tractors, buses, coaches, cars, jeeps, trucks, special purpose vehicles and motorcycles.”
The parliamentary finance secretary informed the House that Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has completed all the preparations for conducting the sixth population and housing census in the country. The matter is being considered by the Council of Common Interest (CCI), he said, adding that after approval by the council, the government will conduct the survey on priority basis.
‘LOSSES’ DUE TO SIT-INS:
“The sit-ins of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) have caused long term and short term losses to the economy and the government has to pay additional Rs645 million rupees to the security agencies for protection of the sit-ins,” said the secretary.
He said Stock Exchange had gone down and the rupee had devalued against the dollar because of the sit-ins. “But when the people rejected the purpose of the sit-ins, the Stock Exchange again started performing well and rupee also being appreciated against dollar,” he said.
“Foreign direct investment decreased investors’ confidence and Sukuk bonds were delayed. Now, Sukuk bonds have been five times over-subscribed, restoring investors’ confidence on government’s policies,” he said.