ISLAMABAD, Nov 14: After Maulana Fazlur Rehman, those running an NGO, Nazarya-i-Pakistan Council (NPC), look losing land doled them out by the Pervez Musharraf-led regime some six years ago.

Former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali allotted “in a controversial manner” the prized land to NPC in the F-9 Fatima Jinnah Park, the government told the National Assembly on Friday.

Consequently, Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi referred the matter to the relevant standing committee of the lower house on the request of Pakistan People’s Party MNA Palwasha Behram.

Ms Behram had raised the issue during the Question Hour. She said the allotment for building Aiwan-i-Quaid Library in the park, was made without fulfilling the requirements.

The PPP MNA asked the deputy speaker to refer the matter to the standing committee for proper investigation as according to her information a group of eight to ten people had wrangled the prized land in the name of an NGO for establishing a library.Responding to the points raised by Ms Behram, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan told the house that former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had handed over the project to Nazriya Pakistan Council (NPC) comprising former bureaucrats and ex-army generals and that the matter should be referred to the committee for investigation.

Earlier, in a written reply to a question of PPP MNA Yasmeen Rehman, the government informed the house that Aiwa-i-Quaid had been under-construction since April 11, 2008 on a plot size of 4,167 square yards in F-9 Park. By end of August 2008, the reply says, more than 15 per cent of the construction work had been done.

It says the progress so far has been in accordance with the schedule and the completion of the project is due by July 2009.

Procurement of furniture and finishing and installation of equipment and appointments would take another year after that the project would become operational.

The reply says that the then government decided to approve the Aiwan-i-Quaid as a monument to Quaid-i-Azam and a focal point for programmes and activities for promotion of Pakistan ideology.

The steering committee of the project comprises secretary Ministry of Culture as its chairman. The members of the committee are: additional secretary Planning Commission; additional finance secretary; chairman Capital Development Authority; chief engineer (north) Pak PWD; Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observers and NPC president; Lt-Gen (retd) Mujibur Rehman, former federal secretary; Dr Naem Ghani, chairman Sultana Foundation; Dr Riaz Ahmed, director National Institute of Heritage and Cultural Research; Arif Masood, architect of Naqvi and Siddiqui; and deputy secretary (Admin Division), Ministry of Culture as its secretary.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly failed to hold debate on the presidential address as the deputy speaker adjourned the proceedings of the house till Monday afternoon after the assembly remained in session for only a little over one hour without taking up any serious agenda.

APP adds: Minister for Education Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani told the National Assembly on Friday that the government was taking measures to introduce uniform curriculum in all schools of the country.

While replying to a question from Parveen Masood Bhatti he said that an inter-provincial education ministers meeting in 2005 discussed the proposal of introducing uniform curriculum after elimination of ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels. The meeting also decided to review the status in 2010 after sufficient improvement in the education system of the country.

The minister said that the proposal would also be discussed at the inter-provincial education ministers meeting. He further said that the new national education policy was under preparation and the draft policy has been shared with he provincial governments and institutions concerned.