National highways & motorways: 71 toll plazas handed over to various operators, Senate told

The Upper House of Parliament was informed on Thursday that a total of 71 toll plazas on national highways and motorways across the country were handed over to various operators, of which 31 contracts were awarded to National Logistics Cell (NLC).
During the question hour, in a written reply to a question asked by PTI Senator Azam Swati, the minister for communications said, "The contracts are in currency as the contract period is up to 30-06-2018. As of today none of the contractor has committed default as such. However there are instances where operators are in disputes with the authority due to extraordinary circumstances/law & order and the same are being attended under the provision of the contract agreement." It is pertinent to note that the notice was received by Senate Secretariat from Senator Swati on April 25 last.
He pointed out that overall contract amount was Rs 14.37 billion and till April 2018, Rs 10.85 billion were paid, showing that still about Rs 4 billion were to be paid to the government by the operators.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that a total of 34 political and non-career ambassadors had been appointed since June 2013, of whom the contract of 16 envoys had expired. Out of these 16, 11 ambassadors are retired from armed forces including five lieutenant generals, four major generals, one brigadier and an air marshal.
He explained that currently there were 18 ambassadors and consul generals on contract on similar grounds. They included 12 retired senior officers from armed forces (one retired lieutenant general, six major generals, one brigadier, two vice admirals, one air chief marshal and one air marshal).
He added that according to the appointment letter, a non-career ambassador or high commissioner would offer his/her resignation when the government appointing him/her is no more.
He noted that ambassadors to Doha, Havana and Rabat, Shahzad Ahmad, Kamrani Shafi and Nadir ChaudhrY, respectively, had resigned due to change in the government.
To a question by Senator Mohsin Aziz of PTI, the minister said the total number of Pakistani prisoners in India was 594, whereas India had freed 420 Pakistani prisoners during the last five years. He added there were 471 Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails while Pakistan had released 1,997 Indian prisoners in five years.
In reply to another question by Senator Aziz, Minister for Health Aamir Mehmood Kayani said that seven senior government officers and legislators had availed the facility of medical treatment abroad during the last five years.
However, similar information about the judges of Supreme Court of Pakistan and high court judges was not available with this ministry, the minister pointed out.
Those who availed medical treatment abroad at state expense included Rashid Godel, Rs 3,180,000, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, Rs2,755,208 and pounds 22,000, wife of MNA Sahibzada Nazeer Sultan, $30,000, retired IG Police Wajahat Latif, Rs2,655,496, deputy secretary Liaqat Ali Naqvi, $15,000, secretary Federal Ombudsman Abdul Malik Ghuri, $1,623.47, and wife of retired director President Secretariat Parveen Sagheer, Rs500,000.
Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari assured the House that holistic approach would be adopted to provide full legal and humanitarian assistance to Pakistani prisoners languishing in foreign jails.
She explained that consular services of Pakistani missions abroad would be upgraded for that purpose. She said a policy decision would also be taken to get in touch with different countries for repatriation of Pakistani prisoners.
The government, she continued, would bolster efforts to produce skilled workforce keeping in the view the demand of jobs in the Gulf region and other countries.
Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that Gwadar port was a big national asset and conceded that currently limited exports and commercial imports were taking place from the port.
Earlier, Senator Usman Kakar said the port was called a game-changer but surprisingly, in five years, only 99 ships anchored at the port.
Babar said it was alarming that the port was readied in 2006 but shipments were limited. Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak said that businessmen did not find the port viable and it hardly had any attraction for them, as only government cargo was being handled. The matter was referred to the committee concerned for deliberations and report.
In a written reply, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the House that safeguarding national security, promoting Pakistan's economic interests and strengthening international partnerships had been some of the overarching themes of the country's foreign policy.
He said the foreign policy as in any other democratic country was formulated by the government. He, however, said the Parliament, security agencies and some other ministries played an equally important role in providing crucial inputs. That practice, he said, was also followed in other countries as well.
The minister informed the House that as many as 6,450 Pakistanis were incarcerated in jails of seven Gulf countries in 2017-18. In a written reply to the question asked by Senator Bahramand Tangi, he said 2,970 Pakistanis had been incarcerated in 2017-18 in various jails of Saudi Arabia, 2,600 in the United Arab Emirates, 657 in Oman, 128 in Bahrain, 54 in Qatari jails, 38 Pakistanis were in jails of Kuwait and three Pakistani were languishing in Yemen jail.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed a unanimous resolution urging the government to immediately enact legislation to criminalize the enforced disappearances. The resolution was moved by Raza Rabbani of PPP.
The resolution called on the government to join the international campaign to end enforced disappearances by ratifying the international convention on Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances.
The resolution expressed solidarity with the families of missing persons and those who are victims of enforced disappearances. It assured the families of disappeared persons that the Upper House will be their voice in ensuring justice, recovery and punishment to the perpetrators.
The chair also admitted for discussion an adjournment motion regarding alleged rigging in the general election 2018. It was moved by Muhammad Javed Abbassi of PML-N. However, despite time was fixed for the debate after finishing the orders of the day, it could not be held on Thursday, as no minister was around to take notes.