Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Tuesday came under fire in the Senate on the issue of the deportation of 87,963 Pakistanis on crime charges from 49 various countries in the last one year.
Parliamentarians from both the sides of the aisle criticised the minister during question hour, as he was unable to present comprehensive information.
Syed Murad Ali Shah inquired the minister about the crimes these deportees were charged with.
Kasuri said that these Pakistanis were deported due to illegal entry, murder and other crimes, adding that complete information regarding these people will be placed in the House after three days.
Senator Enwer Baig criticised the minister and said why the Foreign Office has not collected complete details of the charges under which these Pakistanis were deported from 49 countries.
Senator Hameed Ullah Afridi while criticising the minister said that if the Foreign Office has collected information regarding their crimes then why it is not presented in the House?
On a question by Senator Sajid Mir whether the government gave travelling allowances to the deportees, Kasuri said that the government pays transportation allowance to the deportees from the fund and advocacy fee is also being provided to them.
Khwaja Muhammad Akbar of PPPP inquired about checks and balances by the Foreign Office on human trafficking.
To another question, Minister of State for Interior Shahzad Waseem said that the government has prepared National Plan of Action to curb human trafficking.
Raza Mohammad Raza said that the foreign countries are exploiting Pakistan's labour force, but the government has adopted the policy of negligence in this regard.
Senator Enwer Baig said that poverty is the root cause, which forced the people to get employed in foreign countries as they spent significant amount on immigration process and in return face deportation.
Senator Ilyas Bilour inquired from the foreign minister that how many human smugglers have so far been arrested by the law-enforcement agencies.
Senator Safdar Abbasi asked Industries and Production Minister Jahangir Tareen to inform the House about profitability of Pakistan Steel Mills.
Tareen informed the House that the total sale of Pakistan Steel Mills is Rs 30.8 billion during 2004-05 as against Rs 24.9 billion of 2003-04.
Opposition members criticised the minister that this is the responsibility of the government to look into the issues of Pakistan Steel and if the mill is running into profits then why it is being privatised.
Enwer Baig said that majority of the standing committee members have opposed the privatisation process of Pakistan Steel Mills.
However, Tareen sidelined the issue, saying that members of the committee have visited Pakistan Steel Mills and it is need of the hour to privatise it.
Senator Professor Khursheed demanded of the government to conduct a debate in the House on the privatisation process of Pakistan Steel Mills.
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