ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Technology retired Capt Mohammad Safdar, who is also the son-in-law of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Monday said media mostly took interest in asking him questions about the Panama papers leak.

He said he would have to contribute to the discussion if his name included in the scandal.

Though the committee was discussing issues about mobile phone service providing companies, the discussion was diverted after Mr Safdar said the media should report positive stories and highlight issues.

“The Ministry of Information Technology and its ancillary department have been doing good works but the media hardly highlights them,” he said.

However, Mr Safdar himself seemed stuck in the Panama leaks issue because when the chief executive officer Universal Service Fund (USF), Faisal Sattar, started briefing the meeting Mr Safdar said the USF sounds strange just like the name of an offshore company. Throughout the meeting, Mr Safdar continued passing comments on different issues.

Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rahman told the meeting that in all the welfare work such as the establishment of computer labs less-developed areas were given priority. She said such welfare works were being carried out in small cities instead of Lahore.

Mr Safdar again intervened and said people of Lahore had already got the metro project so what else they could expect.

MNA Shazia Marri of the PPP, while addressing Mr Safdar, remarked. “Strangely, today you are sharing facts with the participants of the committee which is appreciated.”

Anusha Rahman informed the meeting that 3G service would be available all over the country by 2018.

She said though the ministry and its ancillary departments and cellular companies were making efforts to provide internet and mobile phone services across the country as soon as possible, there were some hurdles.

Ms Rahman said a senator was creating hurdles in the installation of mobile phone towers in Balochistan after a cellular company refused to install its tower on his land due to technical issues.

“The senator initially tried to force the company to fix the tower on his land but when the company told him that it was not a suitable place, the lawmaker not only managed to get the lease of a hillock obtained by the firm cancelled for the tower but also transferred the district government officer who had issued the lease,” she said.

“Now the senator has been calling the officials of the ministry’s ancillary departments to the standing committee meetings and grilling them,” she alleged.

She also said in two areas the mobile phone towers were blown up with bombs as rival tribes wanted the towers to be installed in their land in order to get rent from the service providing companies.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2016