ISLAMABAD: The opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly, on Tuesday, demanded the government to proceed with the “removal” of the prime minister’s commerce czar, if it is serious about ending the matter of conflict of interest.
The demand from the opposition for removal of Abdul Razak Dawood, who holds the portfolio of adviser to the prime minister on commerce — came after federal minister for communications Murad Saeed said that members of the parliament who had conflict of interest should not be made part of standing committees of the house.
The government had to face yet another embarrassment after Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) –an ally of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – pointed out the quorum in protest against what its MNA Usama Qadri, said discrimination as the chair gives floor only to the PTI members.
“Our [MQM-P] members are asking for the floor but the presiding officer [Amjad Ali Khan of PTI] is not giving them the floor, and I point out the quorum in protest,” he lamented.
With this, the chair adjourned the proceedings after he found the quorum, incomplete.
Speaking on a point of order, the communications minister said that legislation should be done keeping in view the interest of the people, adding committees would ensure transparency and good legislation when committees’ members would have no conflict of interests.
He suggested a change in the rules of business and legislation in that regard, adding it was the responsibility of the lawmakers to work for strengthening democracy, parliament and rule of law in the country.
“We are not here to protect our business, we are here to make legislation for the welfare of the people and the country,” he added.
He regretted that the Inspector General of Motorway Police had been summoned for stopping the vehicles of lawmakers.
“How can police personnel ensure rule of law when they will be summoned for stopping the vehicles to ensure writ of the state,” he questioned. He said that in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, there were about 12,326 prisoners in various jails of the province, while the number of prisoners in Punjab jails were about 52,000. All these, he said, were behind the bar for minor crimes.
He said that 51,468 prisoners in Punjab and 10,257 in the KP jails are yet to be convicted by the courts as their trials are underway.
This prompted Abdul Qadir Patel of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) who rose on his seat, and said: “Fair enough! Start it from the federal cabinet and start it right from [removal of] Razaq Dawood”.
“Half of your cabinet members are affected by NAB [National Accountability Bureau]…why don’t you see people like Pervez Khattak, who is also facing NAB cases i.e. in Malam Jaba and BRT project Peshawar,” he added.
He said that the heavens would not fall, if the Motorway top cop is summoned to the committee, but the issue is that the lawmakers who make the law are not given any exemption.
“The judges and the people in uniform are exempted from paying the toll tax on motorways but a lawmaker who legislates is slapped with a challan for not paying the toll tax…it means we are ourselves degrading the parliament,” he lamented.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub said that it was unfortunate that massive corruption was committed in Sindh.
He said that wheat crisis had emerged due to Sindh Province. He said that it was quite shameful there is no vaccine or vaccination centre for dog bites available in Sindh, adding stray dogs problem is not only in Karachi but, overall Sindh is under siege of this problem.
At this, Patel said that it is the Centre, which is not providing vaccines to the provincial government despite, making the payments thrice, adding now we ourselves have started production of the vaccine. Another PPP lawmaker said that wheat, sugar, and petroleum mafias are part of the federal cabinet, adding all the ministers who are involved in any kind of scandal, should be kicked out.
“If you are ready for it, just proceed and remove all those facing scandals, and you will find us standing by you, as we also strongly believed there should be no conflict of interest,” he added.
Responding to a calling attention notice regarding lack of government soft conventional training skills in Islamabad, the parliamentary secretary for education, Wajiha Akram, said that National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) was actively involved in the policy-making, strategy formulation, regulation, and revamping of the country’s entire Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system.
Speaking on a point of order, Mohsin Dawar said that he had forewarned of Taliban regrouping in the country but the government paid no heed to it. After Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack on policemen in Islamabad, it has been proved that the militants have reached the capital.
Responding to another calling attention notice, the parliamentary secretary for commerce, Aliya Hamza, said that 12 million urea bags have been provided to farmers during the current month to fulfil their demands of fertiliser.
She said that Pakistan has produced a record urea since 2009 and its sale has increased by five percent, adding price of urea in the country is six times lower compared to the international market. Six bills were introduced in the National Assembly, which include the Islamabad Water Conservation Bill, 2022, the Acid and Burn Crime Bill, 2022, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022 (Amendment in Article-24-A), the Indecent Advertisement Prohibition (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the ICT Tuberculosis (Notification) Bill, 2022, and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
The chair referred all the bills to the standing committee concerned.