NA approves Rs157.27b demands for grants

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, while responding to concerns of the parliamentarians on freedom of expression, said on Monday there should be unanimity of views between the government and the opposition on the national interests.

"We should not carry forward the international agenda and follow narratives to serve our petty interests," he said while winding up the debate in the National Assembly on cut motions on three demands for grants of his ministry on Monday.

The National Assembly approved nine demands for grants worth Rs157.27 billion: the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Rs10.06 billion, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination division Rs49,77 billion, Food Security and Research division Rs25.12 billion, and Railways Rs72,32 billion.

The house rejected all the cut motions moved by the opposition members on these grants. The information minister, while responding to the debate on cut motion on demands for grants for his ministry, pointed out that 250 national private channels and 43 international channels were functioning independently without any curbs on them.

Fawad, responding to a complaint from the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) parliamentarian that his party's narrative was not presented on the Pakistani channels, said, "You do not need national channels as you are enjoying support of international media," he said.

In this connection, he said a lady, who was not a Pashtun, while sitting in London, was forwarding anti-Pakistan agenda, holding protests in front of the Pak High Commission, and her articles were published in newspapers there.

"Do you think that her activities are publicised and her articles are published without making any payment to newspapers there," he said. He said it was a matter of shame for those who, while living in Pakistan, speak language of anti-Pakistan elements from outside the country.

Information Minister said that India established 845 fake websites under disinfo lab, which were working against Pakistan's interests and also to damage Kashmir cause and support Balochistan nationalists.

He said over 300,000 tweets were generated in three minutes from Ahmadabad which is IT hub of India during the TLP protest. He said that fake news mainly generates from three to four different places in India, its gets boost in Afghanistan, and then reaches Pakistan for further targets and achieve designs.

The minister also expressed dissatisfaction over performance of the External Publicity wing. On Journalist Protection Act, he asked Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who heads the standing committee on human rights, to get the bill passed by committee at the earliest.

He reminded the opposition that 32 journalists died in 39 attacks during the PPP tenure while 14 media persons lost their lives in 18 attacks during the PMLN regime. He told the PPP members that incidents of killing of two journalists took place in Sukkur and Nowshehro Feroze. But so far their culprits were yet be arrested.

The minister said the previous governments used departments of the Ministry of Information for recruitment of their voters without caring for merit in the last 10 years. Only in Pakistan Television, the minister said that 2,200 people were appointed on daily-wage basis and then they were regularised through a committee without their appearing in any written tests and interviews. “Not even five per cent of these employees are capable of accomplishing any assignment,” he said.

He said the organisation is spending Rs320 million on payment of salaries of these employees. “It is very easy for us to recruit 10 to 15 people from every polling station in government departments to become electable, but in this process, departments will be ruined,” he added.

Shazia Marri said Pakistan is one of the worst countries in ensuring freedom of expression. She said journalist and social media activists are booked under the Electronic Media Crimes Act, 2015 to silence their voices.

Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali also spoke against curbs on the freedom of expression. He said it was a responsibility of the government to ensure protection of journalists. The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) parliamentarian supported Prime Minister Imran Khan’s views on Islamic dress code for women, adding that his party would extend full support to the government in turning Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state.

On his cut motion regarding demands for grants for Health Services, the JI member regretted that none of the governments had been able to establish a quality hospital in the federal capital, saying that a reference is required to get a bed for a patient at PIMS or Poly Clinic in Islamabad.

Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, while criticising performance of Railways, regretted that the recent collision between two trains was caused by negligence of Railways officials. He said that neither any top government personality resigned nor any action was taken against responsible officials. He also pointed out that those died in the accident or who were injured were yet to receive any compensation.

The opposition members, while discussing their cut motions on demands for grants for the Food Security division, also demanded the government increase subsidy on fertilisers and pesticides and reduce electricity tariff for tube-wells.

Winding up discussion on the cut motions pertaining to his ministry, Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam said the present government is placing special emphasis on uplift of the agriculture sector.

He said apart from Rs12 billion, set aside in the budget for the agriculture sector, the finance minister had also agreed to provide another Rs25 billion, He was confident that more funds would also be provided to the sector. He said that was a paradigm shift in agriculture sector allocations.

Fakhar Imam said there had been a record wheat crop of 27.3 million tons this year. He said our total demand is 29.3 million tons and three million ton of wheat will be imported to keep the prices of the commodity stabilised.

Winding up discussion on the cut motions pertaining to her ministry, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr Nausheen Hamid said the domestic capacity to manufacture anti-COVID-19 vaccine will be enhanced from 0.9 million doses this month to three million doses next month.

She said the world was appreciating Pakistan for effectively tackling the pandemic, adding that the government had also earmarked $1.1 billion for procurement of anti-COVID vaccine. She said 10 per cent of the total eligible population had been vaccinated against the pandemic.

Winding up discussion on cut motions regarding Pakistan Railways, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said several trains were being privatised to take Pakistan Railways towards betterment. This, he said, would bring benefit of Rs331.5 million. He said the government had also approved the ML-1 project envisaging up-gradation of rail infrastructure from Karachi to Peshawar.