House approves probe into ex-CM’s funding for mosques, seminaries
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday witnessed a rumpus as members from the government and the opposition chanted slogans of 'Go Imran Go' and 'Go Nawaz Go.'
The situation turned ugly when Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), complained of discrimination in allocation of development funds. He said the opposition members were not provided funds for development. "It isn't the government of Tehreek-e-Insaf but of Tehreek-e-Be-Insaf," he declared. His words infuriated the treasury members.
Mushtaq Ghani, Special Assistant to the chief minister, said the PML-N lawmaker should look into the Punjab government's injustices as the opposition members there were totally ignored.
Other treasury and opposition members also jumped into the controversy and began levelling allegations against each other’s leaders and parties. Slogans were also raised as the assembly hall turned noisy.
When members from both the government and the opposition gathered in front of the speaker's dais, the speaker adjourned the House till February 20.
Earlier, the House approved investigation into payment of funds to mosques and seminaries in Mardan by former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti.
The House unanimously approved the report of the Standing Committee on Administration, which had recommended a probe into the anomalies by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC). The committee is headed by Member Provincial Assembly Bakht Baidar Khan and includes Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, Sahibzada Sanaullah, Muhammad Idrees, Malik Noor Salim, Uzma Khan, Rashida Riffat and Ruqia Hina.
Following the question by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Iftikhar Ali Mashwani seeking details of the Rs1,335.352 million distributed among 5,620 mosques and seminaries in Mardan by the then chief minister from Awami National Party Ameer Haider Hoti during 2008-2013, the assembly's standing committee on administration held meetings and interviewed different government officers and other people involved in the process. The committee found some irregularities and compiled its report. The report said some mosques and madrassas were not provided the full funding. It noted that some were paid less while others higher than the sanctioned fund. Some items mentioned in the list were not available.
The committee pointed out that the PC-1 of the project was not prepared and the amount was distributed without any approved formula. It said the record was also missing. The report said payment was made through cross cheques but transferred to accounts other than those of the project leaders. The payment was made in lump sum with ex-post facto sanction.
