- Minister says govt to devise a mechanism to check objectionable content on social media
- Daultana says opposition’s boycott tantamount to invite non-democratic forces to take over again
- JIT demanded to investigate Benazir Bhutto’s assassination
- MNA Aziz says Imran invents a ‘machine’ to clean corrupts to join PTI for ‘change’
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed on Thursday said that all law enforcement agencies in coordination with the Ministry of Interior Affairs and other stakeholders were working to devise a mechanism to check objectionable content on social media and internet.
Responding to a Calling Attention Notice regarding the activities of 41 banned outfits operating openly on Facebook, he said that the interior minister has taken strong notice on the issue and FIA has been assigned task to conduct inquiry on it.
He said that all security agencies were working to check such activities while secret agencies have been also assigned tasks about it. “Few elements want to promote fascism but I want to assure the House that there is complete coordination among all security agencies to curb activities of these elements,” Aftab added.
He said that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has removed 181 links having objectionable contents and mechanism was being worked out to further stop it. He said that all stakeholders were on the same page and in coordination with each other to overcome the issue it.
Earlier, the lawmakers while participating in the debate, criticised the opposition for not participating in the budget debate which they said indicates something wrong and against the democracy. MNA Tehmina Daultana lauded the government for presenting Rs 4.57 trillion budget for the upcoming year.
She said that the country’s economy had shown visible positive signs during the outgoing fiscal year as the growth rate had risen to 5.3 percent. She said that the agriculture and industrial sectors had also shown considerable growth.
She said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would bring about development revolution in the country as it would help overcome energy crisis and materialize the one road one belt concept by connecting different regions. She said that the boycott by the opposition showed something foul and tantamount to invite non-democratic forces to take over the country again.
She demanded that JIT should also be set up to probe the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Participating in the debate, Rajab Ali Baloch said that some parties urged the treasury benches to negotiate with those parties which have been hijacked by opposition parties to opt for walk out.
“We can bring these parties to the House by holding talks with them,” he said and criticised the opposition leader for delivering ‘sermons’ daily and then walking out from the House. He said that PML-N had always promoted democracy. He said the people would definitely decide what party they favour during the general election 2018.
He said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had invented a machine which cleans the people of corrupt background and makes them ‘neat’ to join his party for the change. Taking part in the discussion, Iftikhar Aziz termed the budget pro-people and balanced one. However, he said it was disappointed for the opposition, as there was nothing for them to criticise it.
He said CPEC was not only a game changer for the region but also a live example of Pak-China deep friendship. He said that CPEC and Gwadar Port were parts of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s vision to steer the country on road of progress and prosperity. He said Pakistan could easily earn $12-14 billion from Gwadar Port annually which would help pay back all loans in next 4 to 5 years.
He said some forces were hatching conspiracies to derail the process of development but expressed the hope that they would never succeed. He appreciated the government for announcing incentives for the agriculture sector including cheap electricity to the farmers and abolishing GST on pesticides and subsidy on fertilisers.