Women deserve no 'extra preference' in jobs: Parliamentary Affairs Minister tells Senate

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad told the Senate on Wednesday that there is no need to give extra preference to female officers as they are already ahead of their male counterparts in the race in every filed.
During the question hour, Senators Azam Swati of PTI and Usman Kakar of PkMAP wanted to know reasons why lesser officers from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are making it to top positions.
PTI Senator Samina Abid questioned if it was not discriminatory that despite having all the prerequisites, not a single lady officer had made it to the top level, especially in bureaucracy, as they come after going through the tough competitive civil service examination.
The minister made it clear that no discrimination whatsoever was being done with female officers or the provinces, since quota as well as merit was being strictly followed while appointing officers at senior positions.
To another question, the minister explained that promotions are made strictly on merit in accordance with Civil Servants Act, 1973 and rules made thereunder read with the Promotion Policy and that there was no proposal under consideration of the government to promote more women officers on preferential basis.
He said presently, there were as many as nine female officers in BS-21 and 22: seven belong to Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) while two others from Secretariat Group, 3 are in BS-22 and remaining eight in BS-21.
Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division informed the House that there were 13 international airlines operating to and from Islamabad, besides 04 domestic airlines (PIA, Shaheen Air International, Air Blue and Serene Air).
He explained that Air Services Agreements, governing international flight operations to and from Pakistan, have been concluded with the governments of 98 countries while 23 ASAs are active while 75 are dormant. He was responding to a question asked by MQM's Tahir Hussain Mashhadi.
Replying to another question by Atique Sheikh of MQM-P, Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division said that during 2016-2017, 104 airlines used Pakistan airspace with 226,458 flights (620.43 per day). Emirates Airlines topped the list with 19,310 flights, followed by Qatar Airways with 17,779 flights, Etihad Airways with 14,311 flights and Air India with 12,845 flights.
PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar wondered why the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, continuing for the last about 35 years, had been abandoned and asked what the reasons were behind it. Replying to him, Sh Aftab said that in view of the conditions prevailing in Pakistan, certain changes were brought about and it was named the National Security Committee (NSC).
"The NSC is a principal forum, which is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the national security advisor and cabinet ministers. Its functions are to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policy," he explained.
He maintained the body was similar to the previous one in terms of its functions and added that the NSC had its last meeting on October 04 last year. Babar had also asked why the committee had not met for a year.
JUI-F Senator Hafiz Hamdullah asked if the committee had met after the BRICS declaration, which caused concerns in Pakistan, and if not, why it did not meet. To this, the minister said that the committee could not meet thereon.
Senator Babar raised the issue of the Federal Government Employees Housing Scheme Phase X, Park Road, Islamabad, for allotment of plots to serving and retired government servants, media personnel, professionals and members of the Supreme Court Bar Association. He said that it took five years to sort out complex legal and administrative issues before the scheme had finally come to fruition but the imposition of harsh payment schedule had defeated the very purpose for which it had been initiated.
He said that applicants have been asked to deposit the first installment of Rs 1.5 million within three weeks and rest of the amount within next few months. Anyone failing to deposit the initial deposit of Rs 1.5 million in the next few days will lose his entitlement, he said.
Babar said that most of the applicants were unable to make the down payment in such a short period. As a result the property dealers had become over active and started purchasing the allotment letters from the allottees to make windfall profits when the scheme gets going.
He said that the net result will be that the people for which the scheme is intended will have no plots to build their houses and the property dealers will make hay while the sun shines.
"I hope it is not a deliberate ploy to reap windfall profits through property dealers," he said and added that the schedule of payment be softened and made easy to enable employees to pay the installments.
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani asked the Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq to look into the matter and bring it to the attention of relevant ministry.
PPP Senator Sherry Rehman voiced her shock and concern over the undisclosed $700 million fine slapped by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Pakistan.
Speaking on the floor of the House, Rehman said: "This was the very case that Khwaja Asif had taken to NAB against Raja Parvez Ashraf as the famous Rental Power case. As a result of not allowing the PPP to install power projects by PML-N, Pakistan is now losing taxpayers' money in international arbitration."
"The Turkish company Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim AS had been awarded this contract to provide barges but the Supreme Court under then Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry refused to allow even a settlement by the public prosecutor with the Turkish company. The company went to the ICSID for arbitration, and won the award," she added.
"Not only did the government conceal this fact since 2016, it also tried to cover up the fine of $700 million that Pakistan will now have to pay for the suspension of the contract," exclaimed Rehman.
"When was the government planning to inform the Parliament and the people of Pakistan about this Rs 74 billion award?" questioned Rehman in the Senate. She further added, "The absence of parliamentary oversight, especially in key international arbitration cases, is a major reason behind losing several important international cases."
Rehman pointed out, "Despite spending more than Rs 1.3 billion on lawyers' fees to contest the cases which are recently being adjudicated before the ICJ, Pakistan's success rate in international arbitration cases stands at a shocking 2%." "We need to address these issues, especially the importance of parliamentary oversight immediately if we are to have a chance at winning our ongoing international cases," concluded the senator.