ISLAMABAD: Minister for Maritime Affairs Faisal Subzwari on Wednesday earned the ire of a parliamentary panel after he skipped its meeting, where he was supposed to give a briefing about two recently purchased used tankers/ vessels by the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC).

The Senate Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs, which met here with Senator Rubina Khalid in the chair, expressed dismay over the absence of the minister despite intimation well in time.

The committee deferred the issue till the next meeting with directives to the minister to ensure his presence in the next meeting as bypassing the panels’ meeting would give a bad impression.

The committee also deferred discussion on Pakistan Merchant Marine Shipping Policy 2001 due to the absence of the minister.

The committee was informed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif replaced four new members of the board of directors of PNSC on August 5, 2022, but the board meetings are being held with the old members and new members are not being invited to the meetings.

The committee was also informed that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has been requested to take note of this serious irregularity.

The committee expressed concernsover the meetings of the PNSC board of directors with old members.

It questioned the validity of the decisions of the board meetings, saying how come a board meeting be held with those who have already been replaced by some other members.

The committee deferred the discussion on Merchant Marine Shipping Policy 2001 and decided to invite the private sector stakeholders to the next meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022