ISLAMABAD: Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed on Friday assured the Senate that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was not being rolled back. Responding to a calling attention notice raised by Sassui Palijo and Mian Raza Rabbani about the Cabinet Division’s letter bearing subject ‘Transfer back of institutions/functions”, the minister said there were some adjustments at the federal level and the letter pertained to it.
He said the 18th Amendment was passed unanimously by both the Houses and all the political parties played their due role in it. He said the amendment was passed after thorough discussion and deliberation and the government has no intention to bring any change to it.
He said that some local adjustments were made with regards to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which was previously under the cabinet and now put under the CADD Ministry and the National College of the Arts put under the Ministry of Education. He said the apprehensions expressed in this regard were misplaced.
Sheikh Aftab denied that there was any underhand deal with regards to the New Islamabad International Airport, as the opposition alleged massive corruption and that a Turkish firm was being favoured to run the national asset. “Neither the government nor parliament are run on allegations. Both are run on the basis of facts,” he said while winding up a debate on an admitted adjournment motion on the matter, moved by Opposition Leader Sherry Rehman on April 11 regarding the Civil Aviation Authority’s decision to operationalise the airport from April 20.
He said that Benazir Bhutto was extremely respectful but the services rendered by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah could not be forgotten ever. He remarked this when Sherry Rehman objected to reported government plan to change the name of the airport: Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
The minister played down the plethora of allegations of corruption, spelt out by the leader of the opposition during her speech in the House and said that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had given observations about the project and audit paras were made also, being a routine matter, as this practice involved almost all departments.
The matter, he added, was under probe and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had not fixed responsibility for corruption and things would surface once the inquiry was completed. Earlier, Sherry Rehman contended that despite being under NAB investigation for corruption worth billions, the CAA had decided to operationalise the airport.
PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said they had paid a visit to the airport a day earlier under the leadership of Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah and the project was a matter of pride for the nation. He added that this airport was putting Pakistan on the international aviation’s global map.
On a calling attention notice by the PML-F Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani agreed to form a special committee of the House to look into the severe water shortage in Sindh.