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Friday March 29, 2024

Ziaullah echoes in KP Assembly

Arrest of ex-minister

By Nisar Mahmood
August 04, 2015
PESHAWAR: A heated debate was held in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on the Ehtesab Commission and the arrest of the provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi by it.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had to suspend the agenda after recitation from the Holy Quran when members from the opposition raised the issue of the arrest of a member without intimation to the custodian of the House.
Opposition leader and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) lawmaker Maulana Lutfur Rahman and his party colleague Zarin Gul, Awami National Party (ANP)’s Sardar Hussain Babak and Jaffar Shah, Arbab Akbar Hayat and Sheraz Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli and Bakht Baidar of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) criticised the way the Ehtesab Commission arrested people on the charges of corruption.
Maulana Lutfur Rahman expressed dissatisfaction over the answers from the ministers and said the debate in the House was not taken seriously. He said the modus operandi of the Ehtesab Commission was strange as people were arrested and insulted without any proof of corruption.
He said politicians were being arrested and the list released to the media. “This is an injustice. There should be proper investigation before arresting a person,” he maintained. He said the media trial and character assassination of the accused should be avoided.
ANP’s Sardar Babak alleged that the chief minister was victimising his opponents through the Ehtesab Commission. He said the ministers needed not to defend the Ehtesab Commission if it was independent and free of government’s influence.Arbab Akbar Hayat, Nighat Orakzai, Jaffar Shah and Sheraz Khan also criticised the Ehtesab Commission for arresting political leaders on mere charges.
They said first the commission should collect evidence and then arrest the accused. They asked the speaker to issue production order of Ziaullah Afridi in the House so that he could inform the members about the charges against him.
QWP’s Bakht Baidar said the father of lawmaker Gul Sahib Khan and PPP leader Liaqat Shabab were arrested by the Ehtesab Commission but were released by the Peshawar High Court on bail. “This showed that the charges against them were baseless,” he stressed.
Bakht Baidar said he was removed from the cabinet on charges of corruption and was fighting his case in the court, but despite the lapse of more than a year nothing has been proved against him.
However, Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman defended the drive against corruption. He said an end to corruption was the main item of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) election manifesto.
Dispelling the impression that the government was victimising its opponents, he said the Ehtesab Commission was an independent body. He said the government had not issued the list of the corrupt persons.
Asking the opposition to make suggestions for bringing amendments to the Ehtesab Commission Act, he said there were shortcomings in the bill that needed to be removed. However, he said failing the process of accountability would be injustice to the people of the province.
He asked the parliamentary leaders to attend the meeting being held today to discuss the Ehtesab Commission.Education Minister Atif Khan also called for amending the Ehtesab Act. However, he said corruption was a major issue and its eradication was the top priority of the PTI-led government.
He said almost all politicians and governments wanted to eradicate corruption. He said there could be objection to the modus operandi of the commission and shortcomings in the bill, but the government didn’t believe victimising its opponents.
PTI dissident MPA Javed Nasim also supported the accountability process and said the corrupt would have to face the music. He asked those facing corruption charges to surrender and face accountability.
Giving his ruling, Speaker Asad Qaiser said he was not informed about the arrest of Ziaullah Afridi, who was a minister at the time and was fired when he was arrested.
The Speaker asked the government and opposition leaders and Ehtesab Commission representative to hold a meeting and also invite legal experts for bringing amendments to the Ehtesab Bill so that fair accountability could be ensured without any discrimination.
QWP parliamentary leader Sikandar Sherpao and ANP’s Sardar Babak also raised the issue of Provincial Management Service officers’ strike and asked the government to resolve it amicably.They said the government machinery would be paralysed if about 600 PMS officers went on strike.
However, Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani said the matter had been forwarded to the assembly’s select committee headed by Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli and the PMS officers should wait for its report.He asked the officers to postpone the strike till the report of the committee is finalized.