Pakistan Peoples Party's members in the National Assembly protested on Wednesday against continued absence of ministers from the House and the poor attendance of the treasury members. Speaking on a point of order, PPP's Nafisa Shah said that there is nobody in the House to listen to the issues of members while all ministers were present in the Convention Centre on Tuesday to re-elect Nawaz Sharif as party president.
She said the whole cabinet seems to be working to protect only one person who has been disqualified by the Supreme Court. Nafisa said that there was no use of sitting in the empty House and pointed out the quorum in protest. Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly, Khursheed Shah said that it is not a good tradition that the opposition leader is completing quorum of the House.
He urged the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings as the treasury members and the ministers are not taking it serious. "The ministers come in the House only when their government is in trouble," he said, adding the government should end its double standards to strengthen democracy in the country.
To a calling attention notice, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab informed the House that the government has increased prices of the electricity only Rs 48 paisa per unit and the impression of price hike of Rs 3.9 per unit is baseless.
He said that National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has introduced new electricity tariff for Sep and the per unit price hike was based on increase in the petroleum prices in the international market. The minister said that his government was already giving subsidy to electricity consumers and would continue to do so for the poor. To another calling attention notice, Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani informed the House that development work on Bhara Kahu Housing Society, Islamabad, will begin soon as they have paid Rs 780 million to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to streamline the process.
He said that the NAB is acting as a guarantor in the case of Bhara Kahu Housing Scheme and all the lingering issues will be settled soon. Speaking on a point of order, independent member Jamshed Dasti dared the ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to name the army generals and judges of superior judiciary whom he has been accusing of conspiring against him in his public speeches.
He said that all institutions including the army are accountable to the Parliament, but the ministers and members of the treasury members do not to come to the House. Dasti said that politics of accusation against the institutions should come to an end as 90 percent members of this House come are bootlickers of the army generals.
He said the army has rendered invaluable sacrifices in the war against terror to make Pakistan a peaceful and strong country, adding that the foreign minister is not representing Pakistan during his foreign trips. Speaking on a point of order, Rao Ajmal Khan of PML-N said the finance minister announced in his budget speech to bring down interest rate on agricultural loan to a single digit, but no notification regarding it has been issued so far.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan member, Ali Raza Abidi pointed out that 134 persons of his party are still missing while 136 people of Shiite community have also been missing. He said that recently a Turkish family has also been kidnapped and the interior minister should take appropriate measures to recover all the missing persons in the country.