Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani legislator on Thursday sought a clarification from the ministry of defence over Pakistani forces getting training in the US along with Israeli forces and asked when Pakistan did not recognise Israel, then why were its forces getting training there.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf vocal lady legislator, Shireen Mazari, on a point of order expressed serious concern over Pakistan forces getting training along with Israeli forces. What was the compulsion on the Pakistani government to work with the forces of a state which the government had not recognised, she asked. The ministry of defence should clarify as to under which situation the Pakistani forces were allowed to get training along with an unrecognised country’s forces.

She also expressed serious reservations over the report that the Pentagon would not pay Pakistan $300 million in military reimbursements after the US Secretary of Defence, Ash Carter, decided not to tell the Congress that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

The $300 million comes under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), a US Defence Department programme to reimburse allies that had incurred costs in supporting counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations.

Pakistan was already involved in the war against terrorism and had incurred huge sacrifices both physically and monetarily and added that stoppage of military aid in such a crucial time would badly affect the continued war on terror.

Keeping in views the disturbing news on part of the US government, how could the Pakistani government continue to cooperate with the US, she questioned. Mazari raised the issue on a point of order during the National Assembly session here on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Federal Minister for Human Rights, Kamran Michael, informed the House that the work was under way to amend the laws relating to honour killings and a new amendment bill in this regard would be introduced in the House during the next session.

During the question hour he said the review and revision of the existing law on honour killing was the priority of the government. The recent cases of violence against women in different parts of the country had been taken up with the concerned quarters for immediate necessary action under the law.

To a question, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Shaikh Aftab Ahmad, informed the House that the National Highway and Motorway Police wee working round the clock to regulate traffic, ensure safety and provide assistance to all road users.

He said a number of measures had also been taken by the motorway police to control over-speeding and wrong overtaking.

Answering a question, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, told the House that 14 locations of Balochistan had been identified for gas supply during the current fiscal year under the community development programme. He said an amount of Rs547 million had been allocated for these projects. He said the projects would be completed by June next year.

To a question, he said although there was shortage of gas all over the country but the situation was much better as compared to the previous years. He said after the import of LNG from Qatar the gas supply situation would improve further.

The House also passed “The Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Bill, 2016”. The bill provided to amend the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance, 2001. The bill was moved by Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan.

Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Muhammad Jamaluddin and others regarding exclusion of various development schemes of FATA by the government under the Rationalization Policy, Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Abdul Qadir Baloch, said the purpose of the policy was maximum utilisation of the available resources.

He said the Rationalisation policy devised by the then governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, for the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) was being reviewed and no educational and health institution was being closed. He said the KP governor had also been asked to put the rationalisation process on hold till further orders. He assured the house that no employees of these institutions were being laid off and the institutions would continue functioning to provide facilities to the tribal students.