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ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: Amidst opposition’s protests in the National Assembly, Industries and Production Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi offered on Tuesday to resign if found guilty of wrongdoing in dealing with car-makers.
The offer came in reply to critics of his ministry’s handling of car production and deliveries to buyers after opposition parties had walked out of the house following their usual protest against the LFO.
“If corruption of even a single rupee is proved, I will resign from my post,” said Mr Jatoi, who faced pinpricks from some of his own PML-Q colleagues.
Outside the house, parliamentary leaders of the ARD and MMA reaffirmed the unity of their alliances against the LFO hours before Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali was scheduled to have talks with the MMA in a bid to resolve an 11-month-old controversy over the issue.
Apparently incensed by jibes from at least two PML-Q back- benchers, Mr Jatoi also offered to face a probe by the National Accountability Bureau about alleged favours to his relatives and friends for car deliveries.
“I stand accountable. If anything is proved, Liaquat Jatoi will not be minister,” he said during heated exchanges over a call-attention notice from a PML-Q member about alleged non- implementation of a previous assurance by the minister for timely deliveries of locally manufactured cars.
During the discussion on a day devoted to private members’ business, there were also calls for allowing import of cars to help bring down prices and meet growing demand.
The notice was given by Ghulam Sarwar Khan (PML-Q, Rawalpindi), who demanded that the association of parliament members and industry stake-holders should investigate the affair. He also demanded lifting of the ban on the import of new and reconditioned cars. The association with a task force was formed by the government recently.
Supporting the demand, PPP-Patriots parliamentary leader Sher Afgan Niazi said a National Assembly committee should probe the automobile industry affairs and called for the improvement of “defective” safety features of cars that he blamed for the death of his son in a road accident last year.
Sardar Tufail Ahmad Khan (PML-Q, Kasur) said the matter should be investigated by a house committee rather than bureaucrats. He asked Mr Jatoi to explain how many cars had been delivered to his relatives or friends at his recommendation every month.
Mr Jatoi said he would be prepared to face a NAB inquiry if more than two cars had been delivered to his family members since he became minister.
He said he was not averse to the formation of any committee to inquire into the affairs of the automobile sector. He told the house that even the present task force — that comprises secretaries of the ministries of industries, finance and commerce and the CBR chairman and must give its report by Sept 30 — could co-opt additional members.
HIGHER PRODUCTION: Mr Jatoi said the government was urging car manufacturers like Toyota, Suzuki and Honda companies to increase production which, he added, would go up to 92,000 units in 2004 compared to the existing 60,950.
He proposed a one-year ban on transfer of cars by buyers as one of the means to check profiteering by middlemen.
The minister said car companies had not acted on his suggestion to reduce car prices because their chief executives were based outside the country.
ANTI-LFO PROTEST: Earlier, opposition members engaged in desk-thumping and sloganeering for about 20 minutes before staging the walkout.
But one young MMA member, Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz (Karak), who differs with his colleagues over the mode of protest, did neither join the protest nor the walkout despite apparent attempts by the fellow MMA members to end his revolt.
Maulana Aziz had first made his dissent public on Friday when he had gone over to the desk of Water and Power Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and chatted with him briefly while the other opposition members were chanting anti-LFO slogans.
After a brief discussion, the opposition-less house passed a resolution moved by a PML-Q woman member from Punjab, Rozina Tufail, urging the government to take immediate steps to bring its various agreements about the World Trade Organization for a discussion in the assembly.
Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema (PML-Q, Sargodha) had just moved a resolution calling upon the government to take steps to get its houses in Islamabad vacated from illegal occupants when Deputy Speaker Sardar Mohammad Yaqub adjourned the house until 9.30am on Friday.
