Missing agenda prompts K-P opposition walkout

ISLAMABAD: Opposition lawmakers of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly staged a walkout on Monday over the non-provision of the agenda prior to the assembly’s session.

Awami National Party’s (ANP) parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said that the session for grants and cut motions is going to start from Tuesday (today) and they are yet to get copies of the agenda.

“Under the rules (assembly rules of business) we are supposed to get the agenda copies two days before the session,” he said, adding that the government is in a hurry to pass the budget. “When we don’t have the agenda two days prior to the session how can we prepare ourselves,” he said and then walked out of the house along with the other members of the opposition.

K-P ministers Inayatullah and Sikandar Sherpao went after the opposition and convinced them to come back, after assuring them that hard copies of the agenda would be submitted to them prior to the session.

Upon their return, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Sahibzada Sanaullah took the floor and lashed out at the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in his speech. He asked Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to remove provincial finance minister Muzafar Said (a JI member) from his post as he had failed to deliver.

However, Sanaullah appreciated the efforts of health and education department but regretted that their work was just limited to his own constituency. While lauding the education department’s steps, he requested that additional rooms should be provided to schools on overall enrolment basis rather than on political considerations.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sardar Zahoor during his speech lamented that the government has ignored Mansehra, his hometown, as developmental funds are concentrated on Nowshera, Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi and Dir.

“In Mansehra city people are forced to drink gutter water. Projects which are 8 years old are still pending because the government is not releasing funds for their completion,” he said.

However, Speaker Asad Qaiser urged the lawmakers to focus on the budget rather than talking about other issues.

Similarly, PPP’s Nighat Orakzai in her speech focused on the health sector and accused Dr Nausherwan Burki of taking hefty salaries from the province. However, her claims were refuted by Health Minister Shahram Khan, saying that Burki is not charging any money for his services and paid tribute to him and his team for working for the people of K-P.

Shahram also advised members to avoid levelling baseless allegations as every citizen has respect. He told the house that the health budget has been increased by 11 per cent as compared to the outgoing year.

During the debate, Education Minister Atif Khan presented a brief four-year progress report about his department, saying, “The elementary and secondary education budget has increased from Rs64 billion to Rs136.1 billion in the incumbent government’s tenure.”

According to Atif, the department has built 450 new schools. Besides, 10,000 additional rooms have been constructed in schools, 14,400 schools have been provided boundary walls, 17,350 schools have been provided toilets, 10,550 schools have been provided electricity and 13,200 schools have been provided clean drinking water. He said that they have spent Rs21 billion on these missing facilities in schools. “People say that we have not executed any mega project in our term. This is our mega project,” he said.

The speaker at the end of the proceedings announced that Finance Minister Muzaffar Said will conclude the budget debate on Tuesday (today).

Journalists boycott

Earlier, journalists held a boycott of the session in protest against the killing of Bakhshish Ilahi who was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Haripur.

They demanded that the government conduct a special inquiry into the case and bring the attackers to task. Additionally, they also demanded a compensation package for the deceased’s family.

They returned once they were convinced by Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan and Advisor to Chief Minister on Communication and Works that their demands will be met.

Source: The Express Tribune