The government came under fire in Senate on Tuesday for ignoring National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) as joint opposition staged a walkout, saying the top counterterrorism body is fast becoming a "post office" due to no-allocation of adequate funds. The opposition Senators Sehar Kamran, Murtaza Wahab and Azam Swati also accused State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry of lying on the floor of the house besides providing misleading information regarding performance of the authority.
During the question hour, before the combined opposition staged a walkout on NACTA issue, some opposition senators also exited the house in protest over not receiving a reply to a question asked by PPP Senator Sehar Kamran. The lady senator had asked whether there exist de-radicalization centres in the country where training and counselling is being provided to the terror victims.
Senator Murtaza Wahab of PPP strongly disputed the budgetary allocation of Rs 15 billion for NACTA and said it was in fact Rs 1.5 billion whereas the state minister was saying it was Rs 15 billion which is deliberate lie. The senator also pointed out that almost half of the year had passed and not even 10 percent of the total amount has been spent by the NACTA so far, adding if the authority is an independent body, bulk of its amount is dumped at Finance Division and has not been released yet.
Senator Sehar Kamran said that NACTA is a key body with regards to fighting the menace of terrorism but the government has failed to make it fully functional which shows its non-seriousness. "Why less allocation was made to it and its secretariat also could not be built despite passage of about three years," she deplored.
Senator Swati also came down hard on the government and charged that nation is being misled with regards to NACTA as the Finance Division is not willing to release its budgetary allocations. "What has been stated here is a complete lie," he alleged amid some chants of "shame, shame" by the opposition senators, which left the State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry red-faced. With this, the joint opposition senators walked out of the house in protest.
Talal Chaudhry said that whatever budget NACTA sought last year, was given to it and some funds were even surrendered. He taunted the opposition by saying that NACTA was no more in a rented building, the rent of which was even not paid during PPP rule. He also clarified this year also full budget would be given to the authority.
Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri asked the minister to focus on the question and desist from what happened in the past. The minister said the building for NACTA is currently under construction. Senator Sehar agitated over delay in getting a reply to her question about establishment of de-radicalization centres for the third consecutive time. According to state interior minister, the delay is not intentional as they had to ask all the provinces about the issue which will take some time.
The House was informed that as per Special Compensation Package approved for martyred students and employees of the Army Public School Peshawar, Rs 2 million was paid to each bereaved family by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One hundred and ninety one million rupees had been disbursed among 86 legal heirs of 22 martyred teaching and administrative staff of the Army Public School Peshawar by the Defence Ministry.
The senators were surprised to know from Talal that there was no law to regulate the feed given to chicken in poultry farms in Islamabad after he said that livestock and dairy development department has started working on a draft bill.
Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Samina Abid of PTI, Ateeq Sheikh of MQM and Sehar Kamran expressed concern over the harmonic injections, steroid and other such things for rapid growth of chicken, which is affecting health particularly of the young girls.
They said that chicken is used almost every day in every kitchen and consumption of such chicken meat is leading to serious health complications, mainly because of the feed given to the chicks. Talal said that already there was a law but to make punishment stricter and harsher, a new draft law was being framed to regulate chicken feed, adding often local poultry farms would make feed themselves and also buy it from unauthorized dealers.
After the question hour, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani asked Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushidullah Khan to share a report on Wednesday about cutting of trees on Embassy Road and smashing a wall of the Tennis Complex for widening of road by Capital Development Authority (CDA). Mushahidullah informed the House that 245 trees are being cut down on Embassy Road and said that it is a routine matter that roads are built but the real issue is whether more trees are being planted.
He said to have written a letter to the Prime Minister that it should be made mandatory that against felling of one tree, 100 trees must be panted. He said against the world standard of having trees on 12 per cent of a country's total land, Pakistan hardly has trees on 5 percent of its total area. He pointed out that lack of greenery and missing of trees in huge number from the federal capital is leading to smog and pollution. PPP Senator Taj Haider also spoke on the issue and complained that a wall of the Tennis Complex has been demolished by CDA and it is not ready to pay cost for its rebuilding.
PTI's Azam Swati termed the felling of large number of trees on Embassy Road Islamabad a brazen measure and he wanted the Parliament to take notice of it. Rabbani had raised the issue of cutting of trees. Senators lamented that the federal capital is being defaced with impunity. Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani appointed a special committee of the house to examine overall working of sports federations in Pakistan and present its report to the House within two months.
Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq moved a motion that the House might authorize Rabbani to appoint the special committee. Senator Dr Ashok Kumar will be convener of the committee while Senators Mushahidullah Khan, Agha Shahzaib Durrani, Sajjad Hussain Turi, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Syed Shibli Faraz, Ilyaz Ahmad Bilour and Tahir Hussain Mashhadi will be its members.
The issue of sports federations, mired in rows and controversies was raised during the last session during the question hour. Rabbani will have authority to make changes in the composition of the committee as and when deemed necessary.
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