ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Minister for Kashmir Affairs Faisal Saleh Hayat on Monday said a senior official of his ministry was made an OSD on the directives of the prime minister
in accordance with rules and not because he refused to sign certain petrol bills as claimed by some opposition senators.
The minister, who especially came to the Senate to speak on a point of personal explanation, refuted what he said were allegations and insinuations cast on his person by some opposition senators during the question hour on Friday.
Referring to Senator Asfandyar Wali, Mr Hayat said the senator from the NWFP chose to single out just one official from his province and did not talk about OSD officers from other provinces. The minister said 14 other officers were transferred the day Gulzar Khan was made an OSD.
Clarifying that the posting and transfers of officers above grade 20 were beyond the powers of a minister, Mr Hayat said he would like to be enlightened more about the details of the petrol bills which it was claimed the officer had refused to sign.
The senator should place before the house if he had any evidence for the wild accusations levelled against me, Mr Hayat said. When the minister said Senator Wali was trying to score points and he too had some skeletons in his cupboard, Senate Chairman Mohammad mian Soomro sensed that tempers could flare up and told the minister, "let's not go into that".
On a point of personal explanation, Senator Asfandyar Wali said the senators wanted to know the reasons why an officer had been made an OSD and informed about the decision at around midnight through a telephone call.
He said things would not have come to the point it reached on Friday had the government given proper answers to the questions. "If you hide the facts, people are going to read a lot between the lines," Senator Wali said.
Explaining his position regarding mentioning of the name of Mr Gulzar and not other OSDs from other provinces, Senator Asfandyar Wali said the specific question asked from the government by Senator Ilyas Bilour had sought details of the OSDs in the NWFP.
In a written reply submitted to the Senate, the government had said nine officers in BPS 20 and above with the NWFP domicile had been made OSD. The written reply submitted by the minister in charge for establishment division said a specific timeframe for the readjustment of the OSD officers could not be given but efforts were being made to adjust the officers to suitable posts.
Meanwhile, speaking on another point of order, Senator Hameedullah Jan Afridi said the government should take action against the clerics in the NWFP for creating a false scare that an earthquake would occur.
Senator Afridi said the people in the NWFP were forced to spend a night out in the open two days ago as the clerics made announcements in the mosques that an earthquake would hit the province.
