PESHAWAR, March 18: NWFP senior minister Sirajul Haq has urged the federal government to end what he called an operation against the tribesmen in South Waziristan and leave them alone to take action against aliens hiding in the area.
Responding to Pir Mohammad Khan of the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal, who drew the attention of the chair to the killing of innocent tribesmen in Fata, Mr Haq said the MMA government was opposed to the present operation in the Fata. He said this situation would tarnish the image of Pakistan abroad.
He said the federal government had not allowed entry to MMA central leaders Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Liaquat Baloch into Fata area, and expelled MNA Sahibzada Haroonur Rasheed from the agency. He said the MMA would take up this issue in the National Assembly and force the Centre to end it.
Earlier, on a point of order, Pir Mohammad Khan said the fire blowing in the neighbouring country might turn into a guerrilla war, and it was better to extinguish it before it bring a huge calamity. He asked the chair to offer fateha for the dead and Speaker Bakht Jahan asked for the same.
Initiating his discussion on the annual development programme, Abdul Akbar Khan of the People's Party Parliamentarians told the House that the government had wrongly projected the magnitude of its ADP.
The government had to drop many a projects, because they lacked the required funds to execute all those schemes identified by the lawmakers in the current ADP, he added.
He said the provincial government had at least Rs five billion in hand, but had presented an ADP of Rs 14.5 billion in the House which was huge in size from the Sindh province. The Punjab had an ADP of Rs 20 billion, which was population-wise four time bigger than the NWFP, he added.
He said: "This written lie (ADP) has exposed us in the eyesof thecentre. Why centre should give us a share in subvention,if we have such a biggest ADP". The ministry of finance, whichwere empty-handed, had misled the planning and developmentdepartment in projecting such a big ADP, he added.
Mr Khan said three ministries: finance, planning and development and communication and works were involved in the ADP process, but none of them had sent a responsible official to witness the House discussion on the ADP. This showed their alien attitude towards the people's rights, he added.
The lawmakers, he said, were supposed to make legislation for the people, but nowadays they were bound to seek some development projects for their constituencies. If, they failed to do so, they tried to avoid visit to their voters, which was a wrong thing, he added.
Mr Khan asked the minister to give him details of schemes, which his ministry had dropped from the ADP and which schemes his ministry had placed on the priority list. In a light way, he said the ADP had become BBD (Bunnu, Buner and Dir), the districts of chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, speaker Bakhat Jahan Khan and finance minister Sirajul Haq.
Speaking on the ADP, deputy speaker Ikramullah Shahid termed it as a one-sided ADP, wherein only three districts had been allocated development funds. The opposition benches hailed the remarks made by Mr Shahid, who was critical of the MMA government.
Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party quoted from a budget speech made by Sirajul Haq, a year ago in the House, and asked him to explain which promise had been honoured which he had made in the House. The government had allocated Rs 75 million for the development and renovation of Peshawar, but the city appeared deserted, he added.
Sikandar Khan Sherpao (PPP-S), Qalandar Khan Lohdi (PML-Q) and opposition leader Shahzada Mohammad Gistasap also spokeonthe non-execution of the schemes identified in the ADP. Later, the speaker adjourned the session till March 24.
