NA speaker irked by ministry’s ‘unreadable’ reply on protest handling expenses

ISLAMABAD: Speaker of the NA, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, on Monday expressed annoyance over the interior ministry’s “unreadable” reply to a question seeking details of expenses incurred in stopping protests in the Red Zone over the last five years.

Expressing anger over the provision of unclear documents in the National Assembly, the Speaker directed officials of the Ministry of Interior to provide clear documents. Just before PPP member Mehreen Razaq Bhutto asked a question with regard to details of the expenses incurred in stopping protests in the Red Zone, Sadiq asked an official of the interior ministry whether he could read the Annexure sent by the ministry. The Speaker sent PPP chief whip Ijaz Jhakrani to take up the matter with the special secretary who was present in official gallery.

Jhakrani after meeting the special secretary told the House that the official admitted that the annexure was not readable and sought two days for giving proper readable details to the National Assembly. Then, the Speaker deferred the question, and stated it will come into next rota day.