Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the opposition in National Assembly Khursheed Shah grieved on Wednesday that there are many misunderstandings between the federal and provincial governments and the trust deficit is growing with every passing day.

The treasury in National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday clarified issues related to the deplorable condition of hospitals and internal audits. PML-N’s Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told the House that this year the construction of a cancer hospital in the federal capital will commence and that directives will be issued to all federal hospitals to diagnose those people who come to their emergency wards from far-flung areas. Chaudhry acknowledged that computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines are not available at Polyclinic and added that for the extension of the hospital, 20 kanals of land has been acquired, adding that efforts will be made for reviving the ventilator machines at all hospitals.

Meanwhile, PML-N’s Sheikh Aftab clarified that all government offices and ministries are subject to annual audits. Leader of the opposition Khursheed Shah grieved that the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh have strong reservations over the workings of the federal government, and lamented that the constitution stands breached, as the session for Council of Common Interests (CCI) has not been called since the last nine months.

“The neglect of constitutional articles 153, 154, 155 is a dangerous act and refraining from summoning a session of CCI is dangerous,” Shah said, adding that differences that arise in CCI are then discussed in the Majlis-e-Shura. He said institutions will become strong only after parliament is made stronger, and grieved that merely three to four ministers attend the sessions of National Assembly while the rest don’t. Shah said if parliament is unable to enforce rules and regulations there will be chaos across the country.

The opposition leader grieved that the third year of incumbent regime has commenced and yet the ratio of legislation remains low. He said if the judiciary has to take all decisions then parliament is of no use. Over the issue of quorum, he said, “The time when the incumbent regime thought it would be overthrown, the quorum was kept intact, but as soon as parliament was assured that the current regime will continue the quorum vanished.” He lamented that the “negligent” workings of the incumbent regime are apparent from the fact that today a parliamentary committee meeting was scheduled, however the representatives of the Religious Affairs and Inter Faith Harmony were missing, including the minister due to which the members of the PPP-P staged a walkout from the committee meeting.

PML-N’s Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari lashed out at the opposition, accusing it of playing politics on the sensitive issue of Saudi-Iran rift, and saying both the nations know that Pakistan wants to play a positive role by mediating in the dispute. Leghari added that China, United States, Germany and Russia have offered mediation for settling the escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the execution of a Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, which led to the torching of Saudi Arabian diplomatic mission in Tehran.

“The sectarian divide in Middle East led to the formation of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that today is a global threat, and the Saudi-Iran tensions are similar to the 18th century rivalry between Protestants and Catholics,” Leghari added. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentarian Shafqat Mehmood lamented that the country is heading towards a population explosion that will lack education, technical and vocational skills. He added that in 15 years the country will also face water scarcity.