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| 24 September 2004 | Friday | 08 Shaban 1425 |
Ministers face criticism in Senate
ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: Members of the opposition as well as treasury benches on Thursday criticized the ministers and expressed their dissatisfaction over replies to several questions given by them during the question hour session in the Senate.
On several occasions, the senators complained that the ministers were not giving "proper" or "satisfactory" replies to the supplementary questions. Even deputy chairman Khalilur Rahman, who was presiding over the session, asked ministers to come to the session with full preparation.
"You must know the possible offshoots of a question," the deputy chairman said while reprimanding Minister of State for Commerce Hamid Yar Harraj who failed to give proper replies to some of the supplementary questions, mostly raised by the opposition members.
"If you are asked that how many pigeons the government has and your answer is five, then you must know about their breeds and colours," Mr Rahman added. The cabinet members who became target of the senators' criticism were Minister for Privatization Dr Abdul Hafiz Sheikh, Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan and Minister of State for Commerce Hamid Yar Harraj. Interestingly, when the deputy chairman was reprimanding Mr Harraj, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan was busy chatting with some friends in the house.
Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan also faced criticism from the members when he sought permission from the deputy chairman to leave the house during the question hour as he was required in the National Assembly due to quorum problem there.
Treasury members Chaudhry Anwer Bhinder and Pari Gul Agha asked as to why both the sessions had been called simultaneously. Mr Bhinder even asked the chairman to adjourn the session if the National Assembly was more important than the Senate.
"Why has this house been made a hostage to the National Assembly," he added. However, the chairman allowed Mr Khan to go to the National Assembly and asked him to come back as early as possible. The minister returned within 20 minutes, but only to face more criticism.
MMA Senator Azizullah Satakzai lashed out at Omar Ayub when he tried to give justifications for less number of branches of the House Building Finance Corporation in Balochistan.
When Mr Satakzai said there were only three HBFC branches in the whole Balochistan province, the minister said bank branches were opened keeping in view the volume of business.
Mr Satakzai challenged the minister's statement and said Balochistan had natural resources and minerals and how could the minister say the volume of business in Balochistan was less than that in other parts of the country. He asked as to why seven HBFC branches were functioning only in Islamabad.
Similarly, MMA Senator Prof Khursheed Ahmed termed the reply of Mr Khan unsatisfactory when the latter tried to justify the expenditure of Rs40 billion under the head of law and order in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).
The MMA senator asked as to why budgetary allocation had been made for law and order under the PRSP. The state minister said maintenance of law and order was a must for starting development projects. Moreover, he said, the federal government provided funds only on the request of the provinces.
"This is not the proper answer," Prof Khursheed said, adding that the PRSP funds should only be allocated for food support programme and education. When People's Party Parliamentarians Senator Enver Baig asked the minister about the name of the chairman of Zarai Taraqiati Bank (ZTBL) and his salary package, the minister said he would come up with the answer later. At this point, the PPP senator accused the minister of intentionally hiding the perks and privileges of the chairman.
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