'Those who got verdicts by phoning judges lecturing on democracy'

ISLAMABAD: Fearing a foul play in the privatisation of state-owned entities, PML-N Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly Khawaja Asif on Monday warned the government that the opposition would move court if the process was not transparent.

“We are rightful in saying that there is something fishy in the privatization plans, as the government wants to oblige some blue-eyed boys while privatizing state entities,” Asif said while taking part in the debate on privatization.

He said they could see faces that wanted to purchase the state entities and the electronic and social media were highlighting their names. “This is our unanimous concern because in the last one and a half months, the government has played havoc with PIA. This state entity has been made a laughing stock in the world due to a statement of minister for aviation," he said.

Minister for Privatization Muhammadmian Soomro moved the motion to discuss the privatization policy of the government.

Rejecting the presence of non-elected people in the privatization committee, Asif said if some persons were bearing expenses of somebody, they should not be paid back from the people’s pockets.

“We know that there are ATMs and blue-eyed people,who are being obliged and they are sitting in the cabinet,” he said, adding that if non-elected people could not become parliamentarians, then how they were included in the cabinet.

He made it clear that the privatization committee, comprising cronies and ATMs, would not be acceptable to the opposition saying that the government wanted to oblige its masters sitting abroad through the privatization process.

He said politicians never came through the backdoor, with the support of ATMs and umpire’s finger. “We the elected representatives face people time and again and our ACRs are written by our voters in every general election,” he added.

He said the entire privatisation exercise would fizzle out if the state entities were sold out at throwaway prices to the people of liking. He recalled that it was Nawaz Sharif, who started the privatization process and then banks and ghee factories were privatized, while those who were rendered jobless were given golden handshakes.

He said the PPP and Musharraf regime carried forward the same policy. ”Only those organizations were privatized, which were running in losses,” he said. He regretted that billions of rupees had been spent on the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) only to hide corruption of Rs2 to Rs3 billion.

“We have sympathies with the employees but it is a continuous burden on the national kitty," Asif said. As the voices against advisers to the prime minister holding dual nationality echoed in the House, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed came to the defence of the government.

“There are no restrictions on dual nationals becoming advisers and special assistants,” he said. He reminded Khawaja Asif as to why no issue of patriotism was raised by him when he was foreign minister while holding Iqama.

He further said it was a statement of Nawaz Sharif about Ajmal Qassam, which was used as a reference in the International Court of Justice. “You invited Modi and Jandal in Lahore and Murree calling them as your personal friends,” he said.

He told the PML-N leadership that they should owe their place in politics to General Zia and General Jilani. He further charged that the PML-N leaders used to get court decisions by making phone calls to judges.

“I am a politician and know very well as to who used short cut in politics,” he said. He reminded the PML-N leaders that it was Miftah Ismail who offered Steel Mills for free for those showing interest in the PIA.

He pointed out that he had won a fake degree case against him in the court in 2014 but the opposition was again raising the same issue on the social media. He told the opposition that they would respond to every allegation but the House should focus on privatization.

He said the PML-N faced criticism on issue of Ajmal Qasab but the PTI government itself was planning to bring changes to the law to facilitate RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav. PPP parliamentarian Dr. Nafeesa Shah said it was not right time for privatization but to purchase and not to sell anything. She questioned as to who would show interest in getting Roosevelt Hotel and Steel Mills in the prevailing circumstances.

Demanding formation of a committee of House on privatization of state organizations since 1990, she said the country had achieved nothing from selling out various entities in the last three decades.

Coming down harsh on the government, the PPP parliamentarians said the prime minister used to call dual nationals as traitors but he himself was keeping seven people in the cabinet who were foreigners or had dual nationality.

“Bilawal Bhutto has rightly given a historic statement that the prime minister and the cabinet are selected,” Nafeesa Shah said. The National Assembly was Monday told that the government had no plans to limit the retirement age of government employees and do away with the annual increment in their salaries.

Responding to a calling attention notice, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan categorically said there was no plan under consideration to limit the retirement age of government employees to 55 years or abolish the pension and stop the annual increment in salaries.

The calling attention notice was moved by the opposition members Romina Khursheed Alam, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, Abdus Shakoor, and Agha Rafiullah.

Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Romina Khursheed Alam, Babar Awan said there was also no proposal under consideration to increase the retirement age of judges. He told the House that a decision in this regard would require an amendment to the Constitution.

PPP parliamentarian Shazia Mari on a point of order said the opposition wanted to move a privilege motion against Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan for giving a false statement on the floor of the House on the fake licenses of Pakistani pilots.

She said a letter written by DG Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to Kuwait Airlines also contradicted the minister’s statement.

Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Nousheen Hamid told the House during the question hour that 0.3 million people had so far received medical treatment under this programme. She said an amount of Rs10 billion had been spent on the scheme.

Nousheen said pharmaceutical companies had agreed not to increase the prices of medicines amidst the Covid-19 challenge. She said action would be taken if the prices were increased before September this year.

Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib said the upgradation of railways infrastructure under the seven billion dollars ML-1 project would help check train accidents.

Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri told the House that the pilgrims’ welfare fund had been established and the amount in it was used for welfare of pilgrims in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

He said the ministry in its account in scheduled banks had received Rs50 billion from applicants for Haj and earned Rs490 million as profit. Babar Awan also laid before the house the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2020.