LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Monday was informed that no quota had been fixed for transgenders in government jobs because their registered number was not that high to qualify for the facility.

During Question Hour the house was informed no census had been carried out to know the exact number of transgenders in the country. However, according to a Punjab social welfare department’s survey there are 2,467 registered transgenders in Punjab.

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“Their exact number is not known because a number of them are reluctant to get themselves registered. They can compete on open merit as their number is not that much high that a separate quota is fixed for them,” minorities minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu said.

On a point of order, MPA Shahzad Munshi drew the Chair’s attention to a rule under which only Muslim students were getting 20 marks for memorising the Quran but no marks were being given to the minority students in this regard.

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Mr Sindhu said the matter had been referred to the minority advisory committee for decision. Besides, he said, the government had also been working on purging the curricula of the material promoting intolerance.

Waseem Akhtar of Jamaat-i-Islami asked the Speaker to appoint a member of the Public Accounts Committee to preside over its meeting as the opposition leader, Mehmoodur Rasheed, of the Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf, had tendered his resignation.

Minister Raja Ishfaq Sarwar said the matter had been referred to the law department for opinion.

Waseem Akhtar also raised the issue of misuse of the law regarding use of loudspeaker in mosques. “A prayer leader was arrested and tortured by police in Harbanspura on the charges of misusing loudspeaker. Police action in this regard may prove counterproductive in implementation of National Action Plan,” he said.

Law Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said the police initiated action in such cases only after issuing warnings.

Responding to a call attention notice, minister Shuja Khanzada said the police performance was improving and by the end of this year the law and order situation in the province would also improve.

As many as nine reports were presented in the house --- appropriation accounts of forest department, Punjab government for financial year 2012-13, appropriation accounts on the accounts of the Punjab government for FY 2012-13, financial statement of the Punjab government for the FY 2012-13, audit report on the accounts of the Punjab government civil departments for the audit year 2013-14, audit report on the accounts of revenue receipt Punjab government for audit year 2013-14, audit report on the accounts of the Punjab government regarding public sector enterprises for the audit year 2013-14, the audit report on the accounts of the Punjab government regarding C&W, HUD&PHE, irrigation departments and the Punjab Daanish schools and centers of excellence authority for the audit year 2013-14, annual activity reports of Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala development authorities for the year 2013-14 and annual activity report of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) for the year 2013-14.

PML-Q’s Amer Sultan Cheema asked the Speaker to inform the House of the outcome of such reports. Last year, he said, as many as 11 such reports were laid in the House but it was not informed about the outcome.

Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani who was in the chair endorsed Mr Cheema’s view point. He adjourned the proceedings till Thursday.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2015

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