Taking notice of a seven-year-old girl’s rape and murder in Nowshera, the Upper House of parliament on Friday referred the matter to the committee for a thorough probe.
Senator Talha Mehmood informed the House that the victim family had itself contacted him to take notice of the brutal murdered of minor girl. Deputy Chairman Senate Salem Mandviwala regretted that such incidents are on the rise in the country, and referred the matter to relevant standing committee.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mushahidullah Khan alleged that Federal Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem was hurling threats at him. During his speech in Senate, the PML-N leader, however, asserted that he is not afraid of anyone.
Reacting to Khan’s remarks, Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz clarified that the federal law minister did not threaten the PML-N member and, instead, had talked in some other scenario.
He said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will brief the House about Prime Minister’s activities at World Economic Forum. PPP Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman said, “Prime Minister Imran Khan met President Donald Trump in Davos this week but on an important international forum he clearly said his first priority was Afghanistan, not Kashmir. Has the government taken a U-turn on Kashmir? Should the pain and anguish of Kashmir not feature first in that scale of priorities? Unless it was one of our PM’s usual slip of tongue moments, it indicates a major shift in terms of our foreign policy, yet parliament has not been informed about it.” “Now that President Trump has again insisted on mediating between India and Pakistan, we ask what terms of reference our side offered for such a critical discussion. My issue or question is not with the US administration but from our own government as to what such discussions lead to, and what do they convey. After the government’s celebrations on President Trump’s earlier offer of mediation, we saw no movement on any issue, because it seems we are only interested in headlines. This was followed by India’s arbitrary annexation of the occupied valley of Kashmir,” she added.
Speaking on another agenda item, Sherry Rehman said, “Promulgating ordinances while the House is in session is a bad practice and we have repeatedly said this. We are not here to compete how many ordinances each government passed. There cannot be any legislation while the committees are being neglected.” “The Enforcement of Women’s Rights Ordinance is being laid in the Senate after a lapse of 23 days since the commencement of the session whereas Senate Rule 145 (1) requires ordinances to be brought not later than 10 days after the commencement of the session. The government is clearly breaching this rule. Public interest litigation does not mean you rule by ordinance,” she said.
Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan informed the Senate that Pakistan is a gas deficit country as its indigenous gas production stands at 3.5 billion cub feet (BCF) against demand of 7.5 BCF. Responding to various supplementary questions during the Question Hour, the minister said around 1.2 BCF liquefied natural gas (LNG) is being imported to bridge the gap between demand and supply. He said at present, gas is being allocated to SNGPL and SSGCL on the basis of its discovery in the respective province. The minister said the case for interpretation of the constitutional provision Article 158 was pending adjudication in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
To another question, Omar Ayub said the work on the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project was stalled due to international sanctions on Iran. Pakistan has completed major project preparatory activities including bankable feasibility study, detailed route survey, front end engineering and design, installation of concrete markers on the entire route, initiation of land acquisition process, and NOCs from environmental authorities of Balochistan and Sindh, he said.
He said recently, with the approval of the federal cabinet, Iran and Pakistan have signed an amended agreement to the IP GSPA giving both sides a further period of five years to complete the project. However, he said, any further progress is linked with lifting of US sanctions.
Minister for Housing and Works Chaudhary Tariq Bashir Cheema apprised the House that out-of-turn official accommodation is not allotted to anyone, adding that general waiting list maintained on the directives of Supreme Court is followed.