The Senate was informed on Tuesday that Punjab province which is considered to be the stronghold of Sharifs, had handpicked 23 federal secretaries from their province in pool of 41 federal secretaries, while there is none from Balochistan. In a written reply to a question by Senator Hafiz Hamdullah of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), the minister in-charge of the Establishment Division said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had eleven federal secretaries, Sindh six, while Azad Jammu and Kashmir also had one federal secretary.
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani once again issued warning to the federal ministers, saying he would wrap-up proceedings of the Senate if the ministers continue staying away during the question-hour. Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan told the House that even after issuance of formal notification by Britain (which was not yet issued) regarding parting of ways with European Union, GSP plus concession would be available to Pakistan for two years.
He revealed that the deputy high commissioner of Britain had conveyed its intention of early signing of a Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan. Though yet to be determined, to what extent the depreciation of euro against dollar would have impact on Pakistan's trade with EU, he said, adding Pakistan's exports to EU had increased from $6.1 billion in 2013 to $7.54 billion in 2014 - an increase of 21 percent.
He pointed out that in 2015, Pakistan's exports to EU were registered at $6.73 billion and this was due to weakening of euro vis-à-vis dollar. However, he noted overall increase in exports terms of euro showed an increase of 33.27 percent. Rabbani also deferred a calling attention notice as Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, who had earlier been banned to attend proceedings of Senate for his continuous absence, could not turn up in the house.
Khawaja Asif's deputy Abid Sher Ali was present in the House, but the chairman deferred the calling attention notice, saying, "if ministers don't' come, should I wrap up the Senate. That's all I can do". Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmad expressed his ignorance about the absence of the minister. "Now, if I said something, they will say, I'm being harsh," Rabbani said.
Commerce Minister made his way to the House after some time and apologized to the chair for being late. "This is not the way. Where is the federal minister? Why does he not come to the House? The cabinet is answerable now to both houses of parliament after the 18th amendment. If he is also having another portfolio then convey it to the Prime Minister that he can't run both ministries," Chairman Senate said.
Abid Sher could not convince the chairman about the absence of Khawaja Asif, saying he was fully prepared to respond to the calling attention notice as the federal minister was busy with a defence delegation. Not impressed by the explanation given by Sher Ali on the delay in sharing information on how many commercial plots had been auctioned by Capital Development Authority (CDA) during the last 20-year, Rabbani referred the matter to standing committee concerned with directives to furnish all details within one week.
Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) said that information is being compiled and would be shared with the House within two-three days. "I will not allow anyone to circumvent the Parliament", warned chairman Senate, terming the answer unsatisfactory. Objecting to a written reply on PIA's Roosevelt Hotel, New York, Senators Azam Swati of PTI, PkMAP's Usman Kakar, and Chaudhry Tanvir Khan questioned the value, ie $363 million of hotel mentioned in the reply and asked for reviewing it.
They contended its value must not be less than $1.5 billion. They also questioned why the hotel showed loss to the tune of $396000 in 2015, whereas in previous four years, it registered profit ($3,791000, 3208000, 2438000 and 3724000 in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively).
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab attributed the loss to overall plunge in commercial activities and added the evaluation of the hotel was carried out by US commercial auditors. He also told the House that PIA had purchased the hotel in 1999 against $36.5 million, adding steps are being taken to improve the performance of the hotel besides improving the overall performance of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Senator Chaudhry Tanvir Khan of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) State Minister for CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry had a difference of opinions on availability of adequate facility at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and other hospitals in federal capital. The Senator alleged that MRI machine was not available at PIMS, whereas, the Minister insisted it was working not only in PIMS but also in Poly Clinic.
To another question, Azam Swati, Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldeni, Azam Musakhail of PkMAP criticized hundreds of vacant posts at PIMS, including those of doctors. The State Minister said that the process was underway to fill all the vacant posts. The Commerce Minister told the House in response to a question by PML-N's Rahila Magsi that Pakistan's commercial transit trade had reached $2.55 billion, whereas the volume of trade between the two countries stood at $2.28 billion in 2014-15.
In reply to another query by Ahmad Hassan of PPP, Sheikh Aftab informed the House that new Islamabad International Airport would start operations from June next year, whereas the work on the project would be completed by December this year. This claim was challenged immediately by Ahmad Hassan and Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail, who insisted that the project might not be operational even by December 2017.
"I'll decorate the minister with a gold medal, if the project starts operations by December 2017 even," remarked Mandokhail and the minister said surely, he would get the medal. Senator Ashok Kumar of National Party also wondered how the airport would start operations when its runway had already shown depression at one or two points.
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