Differences emerged between the two coalition partners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a senior PTI leader and Provincial Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Mohammad Atif Khan asked Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) legislators to quit the provincial government if they are not satisfied with the government's performance. "If the performance of all departments is deteriorating then why they are not leaving the government," the minister said while responding to scathing criticism of a young JI legislator Mohammad Ali Khan of the government.
The JI legislator responded that when they spoke the truth the education minister got angry. Deputy Speaker Dr Meher Taj Roghani chaired the session. ANP's Parliamentary Leader Sardar Hussain Babak also tried to add fuel to the fire and appreciated the suggestion of Mohammad Atif to the JI and asked the later to respond to the suggestion.
The minister gave tough answer to Mohammad Ali of JI when he said that all departments including education, health, irrigation, public health engineering etc were not performing well. Earlier, the Education Department in a written reply to Mohammad Ali's question informed the house that only five out of 67 higher and high secondary schools had headmaster in Dir Upper.
The mover said that if the education department couldn't provide headmasters/headmistresses to the schools in over three years then when it would do. "How the schools would function without the administrative heads," he said. The future of thousands of boys and girls was at stake as the education institutions were without administrative heads since long, he said. The angry minister again attacked on the JI when he took the floor of the house and said that the portfolio of finance was with JI, who was not releasing funds then how schools would be constructed. The minister agreed that all was not well in the education department but it carried out many developmental works. He claimed that 40,000 teachers had been recruited through National Testing Service. Advisor to Chief Minister on Prisons Malik Qasim Khan said that Karak district was also facing shortage of government schools. "There is no government school for boys and girls in 18 kilometers radius," he said.
Mufti Said Janan of JUI-F said that schools construction in various areas couldn't be completed in the previous three years as the government stopped releasing funds to the contractors. He said that MPAs could be seen from morning to afternoon roaming in the provincial secretariat requesting the departments to release funds as developmental activities have stopped.
Speaking on a point of order, ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Babak said that no one would be allowed to dissolve the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. "The opposition MPAs would defend this august house at all fronts," he said. The house passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Lissaail-e-Wal Maroom Foundation (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which was tabled by Senior Minister Sikandar Sherpao. Finance Minister Muzaffar Said tabled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Regularity Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The Deputy Speaker later announced the adjourning of the proceedings till November 21.
Comments
Comments are closed.