Pakistan: PTI govt under fire in KP Assembly

Opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government for appointing an ‘army’ of the parliamentary secretaries for the first time in the province’s history. They declared the appointments against the spirit of the 18th constitutional amendment, which, they said, has reduced the size of the federal and provincial cabinets for minimising burden on the national exchequer. Speaking on a point of order, parliamentary leader of Awami National Party Sardar Hussain Babak said the PTI-led provincial government had followed in the footsteps of the previous Balochistan government, which had accommodated all MPAs as ministers.“ Almost all MPAs of the ruling alliance have been pleased through appointment as ministers, advisers, assistant to the chief minister and parliamentary secretaries,” he said. Mr Babak said actually, all MPAs had been appeased as the chief minister feared that they would abandon his government by switching loyalty. He said the number of ministries was reduced through the 18th constitutional amendment to reduce burden on the national kitty. “However, contrary to the spirit of the 18th amendment, the provincial government has enlarged the cabinet size on different pretext,” he said. Criticising the PTI for its ‘soft’ stand on militancy, he told the cabinet members of the ruling party to ask their brothers (militants) to stop killing innocent Pakhtuns. Parliamentary leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Lutfur Rehman asked under which law, the provincial government had appointed 32 parliamentary secretaries. “There is no MPA of the ruling alliance, who is not adjusted to important positions,” he said. Mr Rehman said the chief minister had set the August 31 deadline for the functionaries of the provincial government to eliminate corruption and show performance and had promised that the people would see a visible change at the expiry of the deadline.He, however, said neither corruption had eliminated nor had the employees shown performance. The JUI-F MPA said at the expiry of the deadline, the provincial government appointed 32 parliamentary secretaries instead of streamlining the affairs of the government departments. Responding to the criticism of the opposition, provincial Law Minister Israrullah Gandapur said there was nothing unconstitutional in the appointment of parliamentary secretaries. He said the parliamentary secretaries were not part and parcel of the cabinet and that they won’t be entitled to perks and privileges. The opposition later walked out of the House twice, first complaining of being discriminated against during the appointment of the chairpersons to the district development advisory committees and later when Speaker Asad Qaisar refused to allow Mr Babak to speak on the floor of the House. Also during the session, the MPAs, who were elected during the recent by-elections, included Ahmad Khan Bahadar, Jamshed Ali Khan, Shah Faisal and Azam Durrani, took the oath of their office. MPA from Chitral Saleem Khan said most roads, water supply channels and crops had been damaged due to the recent torrential rains and floods in his constituency. He said the people of Chitral were expecting that the chief minister would visit them to share their misery and announce compensation for them but even not a single minister bothered to visit them. MPAs from the other districts also drew attention of the government towards the damages caused by rains and floods in their respective areas and demanded of the government to immediately repair the damaged roads and other facilities. Later, the government tabled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Ordinance, 2013, which was passed by the House. The ordinance was promulgated by the provincial governor on August 13, 2013. The House also passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arms Bill, 2013 to regulate the manufacture, conversion, repair, sale, transportation, bearing or possession of arms of ammunition in the province.