Members of the Lower House of parliament on Friday expressed their serious reservations over the country losing the case of Kishanganga Hydro Power Project at the International Arbitrary Court, demanding the government fix responsibilities responsibility and roll heads.
The MNAs also demanded the government take the House on-board regarding terms and conditions on handing over of Gwadar Port to China, while the MQM MPs staged a walkout over withdrawal of SPLGA Repeal Bill in Sindh. The fifth sitting of the National Assembly’s 49th session resumed without the speaker, deputy speaker, leader of the house or the leader of the opposition.
The session once again witnessed low attendance of members, as only 47 were present at the outset, while 67 were there at the time of adjournment. Moved by five PML-N Members, a calling attention notice about 20 percent increase in the price of gas for domestic as well as commercial consumers was taken up by the House.
The Fiscal and Debt Policy Statement for the year 2012-2013 was presented by Syed Khurshid Shah. Following a point of order, PML-N’s Abdul Qadir Baloch pointed out that the Gwadar Port was handed over to China, but any decision on Gwadar Port was the responsibility of the Council of Common Interest. Baloch said the Balochistan government was not taken on board prior to the decision, following which any negative impact of the decision could not be ruled out.
He demanded the authorities concerned take on board the House on the move to hand over Gwadar Port to the Chinese government. Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s member National Assembly Dr Abdul Qadir Khanzada demanded the government take notice of salaries’ issue in connection with the AGPR office, informing the members that AGPR employees were on strike and hurdles were being made in payments of their salaries. He told the House that the government announced to raise the salary packages of the government employees by 20 percent, however, AGPR and some other government institutions were still not ready to implement on the particular government directives. PML-Q Likeminded MNA Kashmala Tariq expressed fear that a majority of the House was unaware of the draft of Defence Housing Authority bill, and it might be bulldozed by the treasury benches, demanding the authorities concerned provide the details of the particular bill to the members of the House. Federal Minister Syed Khurshid Shah told the House that the government was reviewing the issues regarding the salaries of AGPR employees, adding that the government had raised salaries of government employees by up to 122 percent.
The minister assured the House that on Monday, the House would be taken on board over the terms and conditions on which the Gwadar Port was handed over to China, while assuring that the Defence Housing Authority bill would not be bulldozed. He rejected the impression that the name of founder of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was removed.
He said the names of various roads, parks and places were named after various political figures, so it was not a big deal if a university was named after former PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
MQM WALKOUT: Earlier, MQM MNA Syed Asif Husnain said that by withdrawing the SPLGA Bill in Sindh, legislation introduced by a dictator had been strengthened. He pointed out that from the last five years, no local bodies’ elections were conducted in Sindh and it was in violation of rules of democracy. At this occasion, the MQM staged a protest walkout that lasted for 14 minutes.
