Government defends pre-qualification of Arif Habib in NIT

The Privatisation Commission has written a letter to the law ministry seeking legal position regarding pre-qualification of Arif Habib-led group for NIT sell-off. However, PML (N) leader and former chairman Privatisation Commission (PC) Khwaja Asif has alleged that a big financial scam was in offing, as the government was trying to privatise the NIT.
PPP''s Syed Naveed Qamar also endorsed Khwaja''s views. Speaking on a point of order, he claimed the Minister for Privatisation informed him that the PC had written a letter to the law ministry seeking legal position regarding pre-qualification of Arif Habib-led group for NIT sell-off.
Ex PC bosses alleged in the National Assembly on Friday that a big financial scam was in the offing, as the government was playing foul to hand over the National Investment Trust (NIT) to "controversial" broker and businessman Arif Habib.
"The government first postponed three consecutive meetings of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatisation to avoid briefing on NIT. It had also postponed pre-bid meeting scheduled for March 24," he went on claiming. He said that this kind of deal would put the NIT money, which belong mostly to the middle income groups, at stake. This would be a question mark for the future of many widows and pensioners who had invested their savings in the NIT, he said.
"All this is done to accommodate Arif Habib as qualified bidder," he added. He urged the government to take preventive measures because the Supreme Court had already put in question the credibility of Arif Habib in Pakistan Steel Mills case. Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP-Parliamentarians, said that the handing over of national institutions to such controversial personalities would not augur well for the country''s future.
Ali Akbar Wains MNA said that the government should make certain amendments and reorganise the Privatisation Commission by including two opposition members in the PC Board. "Assets being privatised are actually national assets. The inclusion of opposition members in the privatisation process would help the government make the it transparent," he added.
The Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain disposed of two privilege motions regarding arrests of Mualana Akbar Chitrali and Mian Aslam and directed the government to refrain from arresting the MNAs until it became unavoidable. Samina Khalid Ghurki, of the PPP-Parliamentarians, raised the issue of transfer of thousands of acres of land to a private party for the construction of Sports City near Lahore. Speaking on a calling attention notice, she said the government was transferring the federal and provincial land affecting more than 400,000 people of her constituency. She said that this acquisition of land at throwaway price and dislocation of over 400,000 poor people, mostly small land owners and that too without proper relocation plan would further aggravate the problems of these small farmers.
Ghulam Murtaza Satti of the PPP-Parliamentarians said that recently appointed investigating officers (IO), mostly retired colonels, were victimising the opponents to settle their personal scores. Besides taking up two calling attention notices, eight presidential ordinances were also laid before the NA by federal law Minister Wasi Zafar, as most of the time was consumed by points of orders like earlier days of the week without carrying out any legislative business or holding debate on judicial crisis.