Hidden war between minister, parliamentary secretary surfaces

PESHAWAR: A hidden war between a provincial minister and parliamentary secretary surfaced on Tuesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly when Minister for Labour and Industries Shah Farman warned to arrest all the defaulters including treasury benches members.
Speaking on a point of order, Shah Farman said that Arif Yusuf, secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and his party colleague from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had misguided the House and used the platform of the provincial assembly for his personal interest by supporting a call attention notice of a member from opposition benches.
Arif Yusuf, elected on PTI ticket from the urban constituency PK-4 Peshawar, owns a fast-food shop in Peshawar Saddar Bazaar, was not present in the House when the minister, Shah Farman, gave the warning. Shah Farman disclosed that besides other shops and restaurants, the fast-food shop Jani Cone (owned by Arif Yusuf) had been included in the defaulters’ list. “I will not hesitate to arrest the defaulters including members from the treasury benches,” he declared.
“We would not even spare the treasury bench members in our crusade against defaulters,” he warned, adding, that under the law the small shops and business centres have to pay social security tax. The provincial minister’s remarks caused anguish and concern amongst many treasury benches members. One of them, Malik Mohammad Qasim, Advisor to Chief Minister on Prisons, exchanged harsh words with Shah Farman.
Shah Farman was speaking in response to a call attention notice moved on Monday by Awami National Party MPA Syed Jaffar in which he had criticized the Labour and Industries department for collecting social security tax from shops, restaurants and other small trade centers.
The minister had opposed the notice on the plea that he was not taken into confidence before presenting the call attention notice on the assembly floor. It is worth mentioning here that the PTI-led government particularly PTI chief Imran Khan had promised to introduce the Conflict of Interest law under which provincial ministers, parliamentary secretaries and chief minister would not use their offices for personal gains and businesses.
The law has yet to be passed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly as one can see the products of a particular fast-food shop of Peshawar served in the provincial assembly secretariat during tea-time and on other occasions.