The Senate was informed on Wednesday that Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) would be devolved only after the court gives its verdict in response to petitions filed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
"Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had approached courts as they want the Centre to retain the EOBI, as their contribution was less, whereas Punjab and Sindh are self-sufficient and want its devolution in line with the Constitution to the four federating units," Senate was told in a written reply by the Overseas Ministry.
According to Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, as many as 17 non-career ambassadors and high commissioners, including eight retired military generals, are working abroad.
During the question hour, in a written reply to a question by PTI's Senator Muhammad Azam Swati, the advisor said that the non-career appointees were from Punjab (11), Sindh (03) and one each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and AJK.
They ambassadors included Shahzad Ahmad, posted in Qatar; Rafat Mahdi, posted in Spain; Jalil Abbas Jilani, posted in Washington; Dr Maleeha Lodhi, posted in New York (UN); Major General Syed Shakeel Hussain (Retd), posted in Colombo; Lieutenant General Agha Muhammad Umer Farooq (Retd), posted in Nigeria; Kamran Shafi, posted in Cuba; Lieutenant General Shafaat Ullah Shah (Retd), posted in Amman; Tariq Azim Khan, posted in Ottawa; Vice Admiral Sayyid Khawar Ali (Retd), posted in Maldives; Nadir Chaudhri, posted in Rabat; Air Marshal Athar Hussain Bukhari (Retd), posted in Damascus; Major General Athar Abbas (Retd), posted in Ukraine; Masood Khalid, posted in Beijing; Javed Malik, posted in Bahrain; Major General Tariq Rashid Khan (Retd), posted in Brunei Darussalam; and Lieutenant General Salim Nawaz (Retd), posted in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashid, in reply to queries by Senators Muhammad Attique Sheikh, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of MQM and Azam Swati of PTI, said that pension is fixed at Rs 5,250 and could be increased only through legislation.
The senators insisted the sum of pension is too paltry and must be revised upward as the institution has sufficient funds at its disposal. They pointed out that an amount of Rs 835 million was provided by the Ministry of Finance as the last actuarial valuation of the fund done in 2012, which did not recommend the increase in pension without commensurate enhancement in contribution. He added at present there is no proposal under consideration to increase pension.
The task of disbursement of pension was given to Bank Al-Falah through bidding, which has over 600 branches and ATMs and biometric machines for the facility of pensioners, he said and explained that due to mechanism of ATM machines, an amount exceeding the multiple of Rs 500 might be withdrawn next month.
Replying to the questions by PML-N's Chaudhry Tanvir Khan, M Azam Musakhail of PkMAP, Senator Azam Swati of PTI, Kamil Ali Agha of PML-Q, BNP-Mengal's Dr Jehangzeb Jamaldini and MQM's Mian Attique, Sartaj Aziz said that the issue of Pakistanis held carrying drugs is a cause of defamation for Pakistan and revealed that because of this, certain countries have stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis.
He said the House standing committee's recommendations have been dispatched to all the relevant departments and security has been tightened at airports, which has shown very good results to deal with the issue of drugs. Aziz contended that all the entities, including religious seminaries would have to play their role in combating this menace. He added the related laws are stringent.
The advisor denied any innocent Pakistani has been arrested in Saudi Arabia and jailed there. He maintained that the Pakistanis fined have been got released after payment of the fine from the welfare fund.
However, he conceded that there is shortage of Pakistani staff in Saudi Arabia and Dubai and that a summary has been moved for more personnel. He said there were 364 Pakistanis jailed in Riyadh, Jubail, Buridah, Dammam, Khober and Oniza. Moreover, 354 Pakistanis are detained whose cases are under trial in various jails.
Among other things, he noted that Saudi government provides translators' facility to the accused during the process of investigation and proceedings in the courts and in serious offences, lawyers are provided on government expenses. However, in cases of pending before the labour court, translators are provided by the Pakistan Embassy.
To another question by Senator Mian Attique, Minister for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada said that the federal government has constructed 64 cricket stadiums across Pakistan, whereas presently eleven stadiums are managed by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
He explained the subject of sports had been devolved and now the repair and maintenance of the sport stadiums is the responsibility of provincial governments. He added the matter relating to a cricket stadium in Islamabad is in court, though the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had provided land for this purpose.
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