Daily Times

The Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat unanimously disapproved the decision of the government to windup Abandoned Property Organization (APO) and Aik Hunar Aik Nagar.

The Committee was unanimously of the view that instead of winding up, (APO) the properties of the people, who forsake their Pakistani nationality and shifted to Bangladesh, should be distributed to those who opted to be Pakistanis and abandoned their properties in 1971.

The committee met with Ms. Kishwer Zehra, MNA in the chair on Tuesday. The Committee decided to invite Dr. Ishrat Hussian, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Institutional Reform and Mr. Shafqat Mehmood, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training/Convener Cabinet Committee on Implementation of Reforms in its next meeting to discuss the winding-up.

The Committee meeting was attended by Minister In-charge Cabinet Ali Muhammad Khan, MNAs Mr. Ali Nawaz Awan, Mr. Tahir Sadiq, Muhammad Aslam Khan, Ms. Uzma Riaz, Rana Iradat Sharif Khan, Ms, Shahnaz Saleem Malik, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur , Mr. Syed Mehmood Shah, Mr.Mohsin Darwar and senior officers from Cabinet, Establishment, FIA and other concerned departments.

The Chairperson directed the Special Secretary Cabinet Division to ensure the provision of details of the performance of the Abandoned Properties Organization (APO) especially the detail of sale of the properties, under litigation cases regarding these properties, and the funds utilization in this regard besides properties encroached. The Committee also express its displeasure on the 361-properties non-retrievable in Karachi and asked for a probe into the matter and identify responsible for that encroachment.

The Committee unanimously suggested making a Committee to be headed by an Ex-Chief justice to resolve the issues related with abandoned properties. The Members suggested resolving the problems being faced by affectees of 1971 war who left Bangladesh for the love of the country. The Committee also directed Cabinet Division not to proceed with sale of APO properties till final nod by the standing Committee. The committee vowed to protect the rights of citizens of Pakistan through parliamentary oversight.

The Committee while discussing the agenda related to malpractices in the affairs of National Testing Services and other testing services, directed to bring reform in the National Testing Service (NTS) and other testing agencies to ensure transparency and impartiality in the recruitment process. The Committee constituted a Sub-committee headed by Iradat Sharif to discuss the issues of mismanagement in the testing agencies especially NTS .

While discussing the Recovery of Mortgaged-backed Security Bill, 2020, the chair directed to uphold the interests of the lower income class especially in the matter of Mortgage as concerned officers of Naya Pakistan Housing Authority and State bank of Pakistan briefed the Committee in this regard. The Committee, however, allowed the Naya Pakistan Housing authority to withdraw Bill on the pretext of improvement and updation. Meanwhile, the PPRA officers briefed the standing Committee regarding the Public Procurement Regularity (Amendment Bill), 2020. The chair directed PPRA concerned to brief the members in the next meeting in detail about these amendments especially regarding disposal of public assets as it directly attached with the common Public interests. The discussion on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2018 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was deferred till the next meeting.

The Committee while discussing the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill 2020, moved by Jam Abdul Karim, MNA which sought imposition of Ban on appoint of dual national holders in the services of Pakistan. The Committee members were of the view that dual nationality should not be just for the parliamentarians but for all those who deal in sensitive national matters. The chair directed to seek the opinion of Ministry of Law & Justice in this matter.