The Upper House of Parliament on Wednesday deferred a report of Senate Special Committee on Gas Development Infrastructure Cess (GIDC) Bill after Petroleum Ministry refused to give assurance that it would adopt it. The State Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal opposed the committee report, tabled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Mohsin Aziz. This invited the ire of opposition lawmakers who demanded all the relevant record be produced.
They took the plea that Federal Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is currently abroad, had assured the house that the report of the house committee would be adopted. But Kamal stuck to his guns and said that he did not know about the assurance given by Abbasi, adding the matter should be deferred and all the record should be examined to clear misunderstandings.
Mohsin Aziz and Ilyas Bilour of Awami National Party (ANP) claimed that the bill was tabled after evolving consensus among treasury and opposition members. Aziz said that was the reason Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was elected as chairman despite the fact that majority of senators wanted Bilour to head the panel. They warned the government that after preparing the report by evolving a consensus, the report could not be set aside by the government and the Petroleum Ministry.
Leader of the house in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq and Jam Kamal insisted that the house must defer the report. The opposition members wanted adoption of the report first, arguing the chair had only postponed the report, and that it was not supposed to be postponed till next day. But, deputy chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri ruled that the report is deferred till Thursday.
CRICKET CONTROVERSY Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination, expressed optimism that Pakistan Cricket team would give a humiliating defeat to India in the T-Twenty World Cup. He stated this while responding to a calling attention notice, moved by Senator Sassui Palijo of PPP, who drew his attention towards the poor performance of Pakistan cricket team in the recent Asia Cup. She also sought stern action against PCB officials for poor selection.
The minister said that PCB is an autonomous body, which arranges funds on its own, adding the government had nothing to do with its policies and decisions. About poor performance of the team, he said that anybody could fall on bad times, as in the past, many top teams, including West Indies, had to face similar situations. He cited controversial umpiring decisions, which included the LBW of Muhammad Hafeez, adding pitches in Bangladesh invited objections from many other teams. "I want to assure you that our team did not lose the match deliberately".
WALKOUT The combined opposition in Senate staged a token walkout from the House over a ''controversial advertisement'' carried by national newspapers on February 08. They said it was an insult to Pakhtoons, who had rendered numerous sacrifices for Pakistan and before that led the struggle to drive out Britishers from the sub-continent. The matter was raised by PTI Senator Muhammad Azam Swati and Hafiz Hamdullah through a calling attention notice, which said a joint advertisement was published by the government in all national newspapers, showing all bearded terrorists wearing peculiar Pathan cap or turban.
They contended that if the civilian government was not mindful of the sensitivity, the ISPR (Inter Services Public Relations) should have ensured that no such advertisements should be published, adding it was a deliberate attempt to paint Pakhtoons as terrorists.
Hamdullah said that the terrorist, who could be seen firing on Benazir Bhutto, was clean-shaven man; and he was dressed like Senator Saeed Ghani (suit and tie). He questioned why Musharraf, the then military president, who had raised his fist to a crowd at a rally here after 45-50 were gunned down in Karachi on May 12. "Have you seen my power now in Karachi," he quoted Musharraf as saying. He questioned: "Wasn''t he a facilitator of terrorists?"
"This is my humble request to all of you not to wait for that day when clerics and Pathans may sit together in order to decide whether they should live in this land of pure or not," he warned. Sheikh Aftab, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, said that neither the government nor the military could even think of insulting any Pakistani. There is no discrimination, and we all are equal Pakistanis, he said.
He pointed out that those shown in the advertisement were sitting in a jirga, pledging to support the government and the army in their struggle to eliminate terrorists. He added that the ad was prepared keeping in view the attacks on Army Public School and Kamra with a view to creating awareness among public. He said the army must be appreciated for its sacrifices to rid Pakistan of militancy.
FISHERMEN RELEASE During the question hour, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told Senate that Pakistan had sent a draft memorandum of understanding to India for early release of its fishermen as agreed at a meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries. Aziz, in a written reply said, currently 460 Pakistanis including 347 civil prisoners and 113 fishermen were detained in Indian jails. He said under an agreement with India, counsellor access was being provided to Pakistani prisoners.
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