Centre asked to give voting rights to overseas Pakistanis

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday unanimously passed two resolutions that asked the federal government to provide the right to vote to overseas Pakistanis and ensure facilities to the expatriates at the airports.
In one of the resolutions moved by Shaukat Yousafzai of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and signed by members from various parties, the federal government was asked to ensure overseas Pakistanis voted in future elections as they were citizens of the country.
Through another resolution that was also moved by Shaukat Yousafzai, the federal government was asked to provide facilities to the passengers arriving at various airports in the country.
He said the Pakistanis working abroad were harassed at airports instead of facilitating them despite the fact that they were contributing to the development of the country.
Both the resolutions were passed unanimously.
Through another resolution presented by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, tributes were paid to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for presenting the Kashmir case in a better way at the General Assembly of the United Nations and defending the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
The resolution was passed with majority as Shaukat Yousafzai didn’t support it.
Earlier, the opposition protested the absence of ministers and advisors from the House and staged a walkout to mark its protest.
The members of the opposition walked out after the treasury benches failed to answer the question of Mufti Fazal Ghafoor of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) about tourism development in Buner district.
The mover Fazal Ghafoor said the written answer to his question was irrelevant. He said neither the minister concerned nor any parliamentary secretary or advisor was present to answer his question.
Qaumi Watan Party’s Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli, who presided over the session, expressed anger over the non-serious attitude of the ministers.
She said that despite her ruling, Minister for Sports and Tourism didn’t bother to inform the assembly secretariat about being unable to attend the session.
She said she had directed the other day that the ministers and advisors should give prior information to the secretariat if they are not attending the House and the officers from the concerned departments should ensure their presence. She regretted that her directives were not followed.
The opposition members returned to the House after getting an assurance from Finance Minister Muzaffar Said and Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai that the ministers would ensure proper answers to the questions made by lawmakers.
They told the opposition lawmakers that the ministers would convey to the assembly secretariat if they are unable to attend the session so that alternate arrangements could be made.
Awami National Party’s Sardar Hussain Babak criticised the government for the inordinate delay in issuing the notification for the establishment of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission.
He said the Ehtesab Commission Act was passed in 2014 and the commission was established and officers including director general were appointed, but the notification was issued in September 2015.
Sardar Babak, who is former education minister, questioned the arrests and the registration of cases against politicians and bureaucrats in absence of the notification. He demanded that salaries paid to the officials of the Ehtesab Commission should be recovered.
Earlier, officiating Speaker Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli had to adjourn the session for half an hour after the recitation from the Holy Quran when Mehmood Jan of PTI pointed out the lack of quorum.
The session was again adjourned just after 15 minutes when Askar Pervez of JUI-F again pointed out the lack of quorum. The proceedings were resumed after a break of one hour.
Many questions were put off due to the absence of ministers as only two of them Muzaffar Said and Shahram Tarakai were present in the House. The session was adjourned till Monday.