ISLAMABAD: Opposition members in Senate staged a walkout from the house on Friday to register their protest against the sale of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) to what they called a fake company at a throwaway price.

The issue was raised by PPP Senator Saeed Ghani who questioned the “dubious sale of HEC to Cargill Holdings against Rs250 million” and asked the government to review the deal. He observed that the complex had assets valued at much more than the price at which it had been sold out to a “fake company”.

Senator Ghani pointed out that HEC’s assets included 61 acres of cultivated land and scrap worth over Rs11m.

Responding to the Senator Ghani’s claim, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal said that the HEC’s privatisation was a genuine transaction. He said Cargill Holdings was a Kenya-based company. The complex had been privatised for Rs1.1 billion, much more than the assessed value of Rs0.9bn, he added.

All members of the opposition walked out of the house in protest against the privatisation of HEC and what they called misleading statistics about the assessed value of the strategic asset.

Documents submitted by Cargill Holdings to the Privatisation Commission (PC) reveal that the company registered itself in Kenya on Dec 10 last yar, a day after the PC decided to re-advertise the HEC’s privatisation.

Cargill Holdings claims that it is a division of Cargill Progressive Group of the UK. But an application submitted by it for incorporation as a company with the name as Cargill International had been rejected by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

According to the corporate sector regulator, a company named Cargill Pakistan Holdings has already been registered with it.

Cargill Pakistan Holdings, a subsidiary of US-based Kargil Group, has already moved the court against Cargill Holdings Kenya for illegally using its trademark during the privatisation process.

MQM Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi raised the issue of controversial promotions in senior cadre, saying that officers from Sindh and Balochistan had been ignored. He said as many as eight officers from Sindh had been superseded by the central selection board to promote officers from Punjab.

The senator bemoaned that Sindh and Balochistan were facing discriminatory treatment since long.

The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, said the board’s recommendations had not yet been received by the prime minister.

Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said that it was for the prime minister to rectify mistakes made by the bureaucracy.

Sheikh Aftab proposed constitution of a special committee to review the matter and agreed that any excess needs to be remedied.

Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq assured the house that he would bring the matter to the knowledge of the prime minister so that justice could be done to the provinces.

The chairman directed him to share the details of his discussion with the prime minister and made it clear that some other way would be found if the house was not satisfied.

During the question hour, Law Minister Pervez Rasheed informed the house in a written reply that the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill for Islamabad Capital Territory, which was drafted by the National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW), had already been forwarded to the law ministry and shared with the stakeholders for their comments. He said the bill would shortly be finalised and introduced in the National Assembly.

The minister said a criminal law amendment bill had also been drafted and it covered all aspects of child protection. The bill has been referred for a review to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights.

He said it had been reported by media that incidence of domestic violence against children was increasing.

According to data collected by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights, there have been 157 cases of domestic violence against children this year so far.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play