Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party on Wednesday protested in the National Assembly after Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah was barred from taking part in the formers protest in Lahore.

“Dictator could not stop us from attending protest rallies then how others would stop us,” said Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani on a point of order. He blamed that the Punjab government blocked the roads to bar Khursheed Shah from attending the farmers protest. He said it was regrettable that the Punjab government arrested about 2,000 farmers, including the president and general secretary of the Kisan Ittehad. He said peaceful protests were the constitutional right of every person. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto could not render sacrifices for such democracy in which people were not allowed to hold peaceful rallies.

On this, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq directed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shaikh Aftab to contact the Punjab government, get details in this regard and apprise the House. After two hours, another PPP MNA Ayaz Soomro said two hours passed but no clarification was presented in the House. If the government could not honour its commitment, then it should make promises, he maintained.

Meanwhile, initiating the debate on FATA reforms, Shahabuddin praised the Committee on FATA Reforms for framing the recommendations on reforms in the tribal areas after holding extensive talks with all the relevant stakeholders. He urged the government to merge FATA in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He also demanded that the government annul Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). Haji Bismillah said the tribal people have always rendered sacrifices for Pakistan and there was a dire need to bring them into the national mainstream. He urged the government to work for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons.

Nasir Afridi said FCR should be abolished and future status of the tribal areas should be determined as the aspirations of the tribal people.

Ghazi Gulab Jamal said that process of change should be gradual keeping in view the ground realities in the tribal agencies. Abrupt merger of FATA with KP was not in interest of anyone, he said.

Sajid Toori said the representatives of FATA fully endorse FATA reforms package. Muhammad Nazir Khan termed the FATA reforms package a historic achievement, hoping it would help improve the lives of the tribal people. He emphasised the need for building health, education and other basic infrastructure in the FATA.

The House was informed that the return of IDPs to their homes would be ensured by November. States and Frontier Regions Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch told the House that 70 percent of IDPs have already returned to their places of origin. He said that under the FATA reforms package, the merger of tribal Areas into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had been proposed. He, however, said FATA would be made a new province if political parties, parliament and the tribal people agreed.

The minister said situation had improved to a great deal in the tribal areas and development schemes would be fully implemented to bring improvement in the lives of the people.

Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the House that Islamophobia was widespread in Europe and efforts were being made from the platform of the OIC to propagate the positive side of Islam. Aziz also said that 634 Pakistanis were detained in jails of South Asian countries for committing different offenses.

The advisor told the lawmakers that 242 Pakistanis are detained in Afghanistan, 42 in Bangladesh, 231 in India, 28 in Nepal, 82 in Sri Lanka and nine in Maldives.

To a call attention notice moved by Tahira Aurangzeb and others, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr Darshan told the House that the government had launched health insurance scheme to provide better healthcare facilities to the people.

He said a programme has been started with the cooperation of the United Nations to address the issue of malnutrition among children and women.

To another call attention notice, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr Darshan said the federal government would sit with the provincial governments to improve health-related programmes, including maternal and child healthcare. He said Pakistan was signatory to Sustainable Development Goals and it is committed to bringing improvement in its health indicators. The human rights minister introduced the Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that was referred to the relevant standing committee. The Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization chairman presented a report on the Public-Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016. The Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges chairman presented four reports on questions of privilege. The House condoned the delay in presentation of these reports. The law minister presented the first biannual monitoring report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for the period between July and December 2015.