Daily Times

During the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir engaged in a furious disagreement, according to PTI MNA Riaz Fatyana.

Fatyana, a member of the ruling PTI’s National Assembly, made the remarks during a session of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in which she said that a disagreement between the two forced Zartaj Gul Wazir to leave the conference and return to Pakistan.

Aslam has rejected the allegations and has said that he will approach the party’s disciplinary wing against Fatyana.

The PAC was asked to investigate the matter and also, the alleged loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer, due to the “incompetence” of the Ministry of Climate Change officials.

Fatyana alleged during the session that the desired results of the conference could not be achieved due to the incompetence of the Ministry of Climate Change.

The PTI lawmaker claimed Pakistani officials did not receive two delegations who had come to engage Pakistan on important issues related to climate change.

He also alleged that the 18-member delegation of the Ministry of Climate Change sat idle at the conference, undertook no activity and “wasted money”.

At this, PAC Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain issued directives to probe the issue, saying that incompetent officers of the Ministry of Climate Change caused the loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

Examining the accounts of the Ministry of Climate Change, the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) officials briefed the committee on the lapse of Rs123 million from the grant to the Ministry of Climate Change for development expenditure, disclosing that the funds were released in June.

Malik Amin Aslam refutes allegations, Riaz Fatyana responds

Malik Amin Aslam brushed aside Fatyana’s allegations, saying that Zartaj Gul Wazir had left the conference midway to head for the joint session of the Parliament.

“Riaz Fatyana has lied before the Public Accounts Committee,” he said. “Not even a single rupee of the government was spent at the conference. It was organised completely by foreign donors,” he added.

Aslam said he wasn’t aware why Fatyana had levelled the allegations, saying that the PTI lawmaker had arrived at the conference via an NGO’s sponsorship and had demanded official protocol.

He said the Ministry of Climate Change officials declined to provide him with the car, which had been reserved for the official delegation, after which he “harassed” the officials.

“The party should investigate Fatyana,” he added.

Fatyana, on the other hand, refuted the charges, claiming that he had neither requested a phone, a SIM card, nor to be included in the official conference delegation.

“The funding [for the conference] came from contributors, not Malik Amin Aslam,” he stressed.

According to him, the team did not even bother to put up a picture of Prime Minister Imran Khan or the Quaid-e-Azam at the venue.

Fatyana slammed Malik Amin Aslam, a PTI MNA, for losing the poll in Attock and causing humiliation to the party.