Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Monday admonished Secretary Petroleum and Secretary Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) on their absence from the session. During a calling attention notice regarding distribution and installation of gas meters in Malakand Division, the Speaker asked if the relevant secretary was present in the gallery to take notes. Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahzadi Umerzadi informed the Speaker that no government official from the ministry was present in the gallery.
The Speaker directed the parliamentary secretary to call the Secretary and Additional Secretary of the ministry immediately and expressed his annoyance over slack attitude of the bureaucrats. Likewise, no government official from CADD Ministry was present in the gallery and the speaker directed his staff to call the secretary and additional secretary immediately.
Minister for CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry informed the speaker and the House that secretary was on two-day leave while additional secretary reached the House after an hour. The speaker directed secretaries of both the ministries to be present in the National Assembly gallery on Tuesday and Wednesday till adjournment of the proceedings as "he does not care about their appointments."
Some of the members from opposition benches also suggested the Speaker to give his ruling for suspension of the secretaries, but he said that only relevant minister can suspend his staff. The Speaker also admitted that he wrote to the Prime Minister about suspension of some bureaucrats in recent past for their absence in the House, but this was not acted upon.
Meanwhile, members from the opposition benches strongly opposed the laying of Capital Development Authority Ordinance 2018, saying the government should have tabled a bill in the Parliament as both National Assembly and Senate were in sessions. All the opposition members suggested the government to appoint an elected representative as chairman of the CDA instead of a bureaucrat. They also threatened to vote out the Ordinance through a resolution if their suggestions were not accommodated. Minister for CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, however, defended the government's decision and said the CDA is performing much better now as compared to its performance during the tenure of the previous governments. He said the government is bound to appoint chairman CDA in a specific time due to a direction from Islamabad High Court and that's why the Ordinance has been promulgated.
Earlier, the members unanimously passed a resolution to pay tribute to human rights activist and senior lawyer Asma Jahangir who passed away on Sunday due to a cardiac arrest. The resolution moved by Syed Naveed Qamar also acknowledged her brave struggle for oppressed segments of society and against rights abuses. The resolution said that Asma Jahangir defended the rights of voiceless, the poor, the downtrodden and the dispossessed and spoke out for the victims of violence and against discrimination on the basis of gender and religion.
Paying tributes to the struggle of the deceased, the resolution said, "Being elected representatives, we are committed to protection and upholding of fundamental human rights."
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