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QUETTA, April 7: Balochistan Assembly Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar on Friday suspended the membership of Agha Faisal Daud, Minister for Communication and Works, till April 15 for frequent absence from the house and his failure to answer questions asked by opposition members pertaining to his department.
Responding to points raised by opposition members, the speaker expressed his anger that the provincial minister again did not turn up despite his directives. He said being the custodian of the house, he would suspend his membership when the ongoing session would conclude.
Mr Kakar said the matter had also been brought to the notice of the chief minister and the senior minister and added that the senior minister had been asked to ensure the presence of the minister in Friday’s session.
Senior Minister Maulana Wasay informed the house that he had conveyed the directive to Mr Daud to attend the session.
Another minister, Maulvi Dur Mohammad, told the chair that Mr Daud could not attend the session because his mother was ill, but the speaker rejected the contention and said the minister in his application had stated he would not be able to turn up in the session because he would be attending the wedding of a relative.
The opposition members welcomed the minister’s suspension as a historical decision to run the business of the house in a democratic and transparent manner to safeguard the prestige of the house.
The speaker reserved his ruling on opposition members’ objections pertaining to alleged irregularities in recruitment against 414 posts in the excise and taxation department.
However, Minister for Excise Mir Amanullah Notezai denied the corruption charges and violation of rules and said the appointments had been made in a transparent way as only those candidates had been recruited who had qualified required tests.
He said the government received Rs100,000 each as annual license fee from liquor shops in Quetta, Sibi, Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Khuzdar, Lasbela and Gwadar.
The speaker formed a committee, comprising Senior Minister Maulana Wasay, Deputy Speaker Aslam Bhootani, opposition leader Kachkol Ali and Minister for Mines Sardar Masood Luni to investigate the allotment of coalmines in different areas in violation of rules.
Another committee was formed to submit a report in the house about the transfer of the building of the Quaid-i-Azam Model School in Ziarat to a trust.
A majority of the assembly members rejected a motion of Rehmat Baloch about mismanagement in the up-gradation programme of the Japan Model Primary School in Panjgur.
The session was adjourned till Monday.
DURANI: Former senator Anwar Khan Durani has joined the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl group) and vowed to continue the struggle for rights of people.
Speaking at a press conference at his residence on Friday, Mr Durani said he had remained inactive in politics for four years but the present situation in the country had forced him to rejoin the political arena.
MNA Maulana Noor Mohammad, provincial ministers Hafiz Hussain Ahmad Shurudy, Hafiz Hamadullah and Maulana Faizullah and other party members were also present.
Anwar Durani, who had also remained the secretary-general of the Jamhoori Watan Party, said the situation in Balochistan and Waziristan was alarming and it was the responsibility of political parties to make joint efforts to extricate the country of the crisis.
Maulana Noor Mohammad welcomed Mr Durani in his party and said his family had played an important in the democratic movement to get political and fundamental rights for people.
Criticizing policies of President Gen Pervez Musharraf, he blamed the army rule for miseries of people and added that his party would continue its struggle for resolving people’s problems.
SUO MOTU NOTICE: The Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court, Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai, on Friday took suo motu notice of disappearance of Shagufta Paracha, student of class V, and directed that an application of the girl’s father should be presented in the court on Monday.
The Chief Justice took the notice on a report published in a local newspaper.
He also issued notices to the advocate-general of Balochistan, provincial home secretary, capital city police officer and the SHO of the city police station.
The girl had gone to a shop near her house on the Fatima Jinnah Road on the night of March 29. Since then, she is missing.
