approved by the Council of Common Interests, the federal cabinet or authority’s own board of directors?
He wondered what would be the future of its 1600-2000 employees. “Would all of them be terminated or forced to shift to Islamabad and how would they manage it with their families, already settled in Karachi?” he questioned and feared expenditure would massively increase.
Replying to the notice, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad said that no final decision had been taken so far about shifting of the CAA head office and its institute, but said that issues were frequently raised in the standing committees, forcing its officials to come to Islamabad while CAA was directly under the Prime Minister, as he had the concerned portfolio.
He said it was necessary to have the offices here, as airports were being built in Mirpur, Mansehra, Gwadar and the Islamabad airport is being expanded. He added law and order situation was worsening that was why it was important to shift the training institute from Hyderabad.
On this, Mashhadi rose to point out that none of the questions asked by Ghani had been answered by the minister and wondered when the apex curt did not allow a person to be given job in the government, could he still be given one.
Ghani also complained that his questions had not been answered by the minister. “Tomorrow, if someone from Sindh is made minister, will he again order shifting of the offices and institute to Sindh,” he said and dismissed the logic given by the minister.
The minister said he had learnt from the concerned department that presently there was no case against Shujaat Azim and expressed his ignorance about restraint by the apex court. Aftab said he had no objection if the matter was referred to the House committee. “How can he qualify for the job after the Supreme Court’s finding in this connection? It is very sad, the minister could not give proper answers, therefore, the matter is referred to the House standing committee,” the chair said
The House offered fateha for Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan Burhan Muhammad, who died in Singapore today. He had sustained serious injuries in Naltar copter crash incident. The Senate constituted a Committee to consider reforms for providing inexpensive and speedy justice to people: the decision was made Monday on this count. A motion to this effect was moved by Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq. The first meeting of the committee will be held on Wednesday (May 20) at 11:00am and it will submit its report within four months.
Responding to a call attention notice moved by Shahi Syed about imprisonment of 16 Pakistani nationals in the prisons of Israel, Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan had no diplomatic relations with Israel but it had contacted the country through the United Nation, the US and Jordan to verify the presence of the prisoners. He said, “This was a humanitarian issue and if Israel confirmed presence of Pakistani prisoners in their jail, we will make efforts through indirect channels to secure their release”.