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| July 4, 2005 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1426 |
Foreign tour by AJK delegation hits snags
MUZAFFARABAD, July 3: A foreign tour by an AJK legislative assembly delegation, comprising seven lawmakers and one official, seems to have hit snags as the AJK Ehtesab Bureau has asked three of its members to submit surety bonds of Rs1 million each before leaving, Dawn has learnt.
Last month, the assembly’s finance committee had sanctioned Rs4 million for the tour to the United States by LA speaker Sardar Siab Khalid, Finance Minister Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan, Works Minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Education Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Aziz, Electricity Minister Sardar Mir Akbar Khan, rules and procedure and privileges committee chairman Shah Ghulam Qadir, opposition Peoples Party MLA Raja Mujahid and secretary assembly Sardar Azam Khan.
The sources said that the committee had not held any formal meeting on this issue but the sanction of expenses was obtained from its five members, four of which are part of the delegation, by circulation of a document.
The purpose of the tour was initially described to attend a “negotiation skills training workshop” in Washington DC under the auspices of a US non-governmental organization, the Institute of Multi-Track Diplomacy, from July 10 to 18. However, later another four days were added to it to “meet the Kashmiri community” in the United Kingdom.
Apart from the air tickets and local travelling/daily allowances, ranging from $250 to $350, the training costs of $2000 per participant will also be borne by the assembly secretariat, according to sources.
The sources also revealed that the letter which was sent to the US embassy for grant of visa to the participants who did not already possess it carried nine names, whereas the letter placed on the assembly’s record contained only eight names. The additional name was that of Shahid Khalid, who is the speaker’s son and was appointed as his private secretary through a controversial recruitment process last July.
They said that, however, at least four of the participants, including the speaker’s son, were yet to be returned their passports from the US embassy.
In the meanwhile, the Ehtesab Bureau has asked three of the participants, including the speaker and two ministers, to deposit surety bonds worth Rs1 million each for issuance of the no-objection certificate, making the whole visit doubtful, the sources added.
According to the prevailing rules, government officials have to obtain an NOC from the home department as well as the accountability bureau before travelling abroad.
A spokesman for the bureau said that there had been complaints against these personalities due to which they had been asked to submit surety bonds.
“All this has been done in line with the prevailing procedure without meaning any discriminatory attitude towards anyone,” the spokesman said.
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