Quetta: The treasury and opposition members of the Balochistan Assembly expressed their displeasure over an advertisement published in a local newspaper on Friday in which construction companies alleged that members of the provincial assembly take bribes for award of contracts and appoint people of their choice to key government positions.

Agha Syed Liaquat Ali, a member of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), moved a privilege motion in the assembly regarding the allegations made in the advertisement.

Mr Ali dismissed as baseless all allegations of corruption, bribery and favouritism. “Levelling such baseless allegations amounts to insulting the elected members of the august house.

“The privilege of the entire house has been breached,” he said. He called for “blacklisting” all contractors and firms that levelled these allegations.

Prince Ali Ahmed, a PML-N member of the assembly, said that publishing such advertisements was a serious matter which demanded that the authorities interrogate those who had made these allegations.

He said all tenders for schemes were being processed by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. “I myself attended meetings of the authority and saw nothing wrong,” Prince Ali claimed.

Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran of the JUI-F said that allegations levelled by the contractors amounted to insulting all the 65 members of the house. “They have made the entire house Mr ten per cent,” he quipped.

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Abdul Majeed Khan Achakzai, held a former additional chief secretary responsible for publication of the advertisement.

Deputy opposition leader Engineer Zamarak Khan Piralizai of ANP, Arfia Siddiq, Nasarullah Zerey of PkMAP and Mufti Ghulab of JUI-F also condemned the allegations and said the privilege motion should be referred to the committee of the house.

They also suggested that the government suspend the release of advertisements to all those newspapers which carried this advertisement.

Published in Dawn January 14th, 2017