The Senate Functional Committee on Government Assurances Wednesday grilled Federal Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem over his absence from the meeting and deferred discussion on constitutional amendment for employment quota.
The panel meeting was held here under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Tahir Khan Bizenjo to get a detailed briefing by the law minister on the present situation of assurance given by the minister in-charge of the Establishment Division in the Senate sitting held on January 19, 2016 regarding introduction and passage of constitutional amendment in either house of the Parliament for employment quota.
The chairman committee said that the minister had assured the panel in previous meeting that the government is considering essential legislation on the subject. The chairman committee said that the panel members have assured the law minister that all the members of the Parliament will cooperate with the government on necessary constitutional amendments when the minister expressed reservations that the present government has no majority for the constitutional amendments.
Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice, Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha (Retd) informed the panel that the law minister is busy in a meeting on foreign affairs, on which the chairman deferred the discussion on the subject and decided to write a letter to chairman Senate over the irresponsible attitude of the ministers.
The chairman stated that the quota system for employment was extremely essential to mitigate grievances amongst smaller provinces and underprivileged areas of the country, adding that the law of quota system expired in 2013 and since then the government has not taken serious steps for legislation on the subject.
Since the implementation of the quota is a problematic subject, it was stressed that the relevant ministry would need to look into the implementation of the quota system in letter and spirit.
Secretary Ministry of Professional and Technical Training, Arshad Mirza briefed the committee on the issue of appointment of 385 teachers in Islamabad based public educational institutions, regularising 1,770 daily wager teachers and steps being taken to increase enrolment in public sectors schools in the federal capital. Mirza said that out of 385 vacant positions of teachers, 287 cases will be sent to the Federal Public Service Commission and rest will be filled through normal departmental procedure. He added that issue regarding regularisation of 1,770 teachers is in court and the government will act upon the court verdict whenever it comes. Mirza said that the government is taking various steps to increase enrolment in schools for which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are also engaged.
Senator Fida Mohammad said that drug use in educational institutions is on the raise and according to reports, school management is also involved in supply of drugs in schools. The chairman committee said that it was mentioned in an article that about 20 percent schoolchildren are addicted to drugs in the federal capital, especially the children of rich class.
Prime Minister's Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood briefing the panel said that the government is focusing on the enhancement of exports. He said that major focus is on engineering goods exports, information technology, agriculture, chemical and crude oil. He said that the government has decided to export 100 percent local manufactured tractors to African market, adding that first target is to export 2,000 to 10,000 tractors. He said that owing to government's efforts, imports have started declining and exports have started improving, the difference would be seen by the end of June on this account.
He said that to help auto industry, the government is supplying power to auto industry at par with the tariffs of the neighbouring countries. He said that duties on the luxuries items are being increased.
The additional secretary commerce briefing the participants said that present exports of $23 billion are insufficient and the Ministry of Commerce is taking all possible steps to increase the volume of exports. He said that Pakistan needs to improve trade ties with neighbouring counties, adding that Pakistan should adopt China model while trading with India as it will benefit both the countries.
The meeting was attended by Senator Usman Khan Kakar, Senator Dr Asad Ashraf, Senator Asif Kirmani, Senator Krishna Kumari and senior officers of various ministries and divisions.
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