LAHORE: A parliamentary secretary had to bear the brunt of failure of his department in submitting timely replies to written queries of the Punjab Assembly members here on Friday.

Deputy Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Khan, who was chairing the proceedings, got frustrated when the information department could not respond to a number of questions and asked Parliamentary Secretary for Information Rana Arshad to stand up. The chair asked the secretary to hold an inquiry regarding the questions that were not answered and report to the House within two weeks and pended the questions till that time.

He cautioned that the relevant minister and secretary would be responsible for the consequences if timely replies were not submitted to questions by any department in future. He said it would be the last warning and if the bureaucracy did not take the assembly business seriously, action would be initiated against them.

Gorchani also asked those MPAs who submit privilege motions against secretaries of various departments but later reconcile with the bureaucrats in closed doors, not to do so and also sought a report from the assembly staff to submit a report about number of such reconciliations.

RESOLUTION: The assembly unanimously adopted a resolution condemning statement of former diplomat Wajid Shamsul Hasan, saying it caused provocation and hurt feelings not only of Pakistanis but also of world religious parties and the Ummah.

Read out by PML-N’s Waheed Gul, it demanded the federal government act against Mr Hasan under the Constitution and law of the land as he had also insulted the unanimous decision of the National Assembly declaring Ahmedis non-Muslims.

Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, Ghiasuddin, Syed Mehfooz Mashhadi, Nighat Sheikh and other MPAs supported the resolution which was passed with one voice by the House.

WEAPONS: Mazhar Abbas, a treasury bench MPA, demanded two arms licences of prohibited bores for parliamentarians if the government could not provide security to them.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah conceded to the demand conditionally saying the MPs had a right to it but first they should get a 15-day training from the Elite Force Training School for handling these weapons.

Sheikh Alauddin, PML-N MPA from Kasur, complained that sugar millers had not yet paid to cane growers of his constituency to the tune of Rs1,000m. He urged the government to act for early payment of dues.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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