Malakand cleared

About the situation in Dera Ismail Khan, he said previously the unrest was due to sectarianism, but now Baitullah Mehsud group was active there under the cover of displaced persons. He said the group had also assassinated Qari Zainuddin Mehsud.
He said the entire administration of DIK would be changed and in that regard he had also talked to Inspector General Police NWFP. The Minister said that law enforcing agencies had arrested two would-be suicide bombers who were planning to attack Parliament House and a security agency building. Lauding the role of ISI, IB, MI and other agencies, he said they were taking measures for securing the lives of citizens.
The House also gave approval to some nine demands for grants amounting to Rs 36.18 billion for the Federal Interior Ministry.
According to the break-up of the demands for grants for these ministries and the cut motions moved by the Opposition in these demands, which were later turned down by the House with majority vote, some four demands for grant for the Ministry of Industries and Production and its allied departments amounting over Rs 9.29 billion were approved, while some 38 cut motions moved by the Opposition members were rejected after the detailed discussion on the performance of the Ministry.
The Opposition members taking part in the discussion on the performance of the Ministry said that no attention was being paid to the development of industrial sector that used to play a role of backbone for employment generation and national development. They emphasised the need to revitalise industrial sector and offer more incentives to the investors for expanding industrial network that would help employment generation. They also urged the government to announce textile policy to improve the performance of this sector and enhance textile exports.
Minister for Industries Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo responding to cut motions said the present government had taken the concerns of the industrial sector very seriously and had declared the next financial year as year of industries. He said government was on its way to improve facilities at the existing industrial estates and export processing zones, besides setting up new industrial estates. He said that the government welcomed the suggestions of the MNAs for bringing improvement in the industrial sector.
The House also gave approval to some four demands for grant amounting to Rs 2.7 billion for Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources by rejecting all the cut motions moved by Opposition members with majority vote.
Responding to the points raised by the members during the debate on the cut motions relating to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Minister for Privatisation Syed Naveed Qamar said that under the new Petroleum Policy profits of production would be shared with the local population. He said a committee headed by the local MNA would decide about the schemes to be financed through these profits.
He said that the credit went to the present government for achieving breakthrough on several important projects including Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and Thar coal exploitation. He was confident that the import of gas would help lessen oil imports and preserve environment. He said that there were currently 23 entities on the list of privatisation but OGDC and its components were not on the list.
The House also gave approval to four demands for grant amounting to Rs 10.08 billion for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and rejected 74 cut motions moved by Opposition members with majority vote.
The Opposition members speaking on the cut motions criticised the performance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and said that Foreign Office had failed to give a clear roadmap for improving Pakistan’s relations with neighbouring countries. They said that India was a threat to Pakistan and it was involved in promoting insurgency in Balochistan and tribal areas. They alleged that India had been included in the new Pak-Afghan transit trade that was against the national interests.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Ammad Khan said the Foreign Office, despite its meagre resources, had shown tremendous performance in promoting Pakistan’s relations with other countries. He said the present government due to its viable policies had been successful in promoting image of the country as a modern democratic Islamic State.
He said Pakistan was working in right direction to promote relations with neighbours and international players. He said that new Afghan Transit-Trade agreement had not yet been finalised and the government would take input from the political leadership of the country to sign it by the end of this year.
The House also gave approval to some two demands for grant worth Rs 144.23 billion for Ministry of Water and Power by rejecting some 16 cut motions moved by the opposition members.
The Opposition members taking part in the debate on cut motions put the Ministry of Water and Power on mat for its failure to handle the energy crisis and also targeted the Ministry for sudden withdrawal of 17 per cent subsidy on power tariff. The Ministry also came under fire because of its failure to resolve the water dispute with India and not going for the other projects to generate power to meet with the growing power demand of the country.
Responding to the barrage of criticism, Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that the government had inherited the power crisis from previous government, which had not launched even a single project for power generation. He claimed that by the end of this year, there would be no loadshedding in the country and the Ministry was working on a number of short-term and long-term projects to meet the power needs of the country.
He also listed some of the major projects including Neelum-Jehlum hydro project and Bhasha Dam project, for which, besides PSDP allocation, special grant of Rs 8 billion were allocated by the Premier so that the affectees would be compensated duly.
He said that by the year-end, the shortfall of 3000MW power would be met as a project of 300MW was already commissioned, a project which would produce 165MW was underway, and another project of 500MW would be completed by the next month. And yet another project of 1600MW would be completed by November this year meeting the current shortfall, he added. He also informed the House that the Ministry was planning for power management for the next 20 to 25 years so that there would be no loadshedding in the country in future.
The House also gave approval to eight demands for grant amounting to Rs 33.57 crores and all the cut motions moved by the opposition members were turned down with majority vote.