ISLAMABAD: Dr Fehmida Mirza of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on Thursday blasted the ruling coalition for adopting a resolution seeking the formation of a parliamentary committee for judicial reforms, terming it an attempt to curtail the powers of the judiciary.

Speaking on a point of order, Dr Mirza declared the passage of the resolution “regrettable” and warned the government against attempts to “encroach” the jurisdiction of the judiciary.

The National Assembly had on Wednesday adopted a resolution seeking the formation of a special parliamentary committee to carry out judicial reforms after heads of the ruling coalition parties, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, slammed the judiciary over the decision of a three-judge Supreme Court bench in the Punjab chief minister’s case, depriving Hamza Sharif from the top position.

The resolution had been read out by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and was also supported by the small opposition comprising the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) dissidents.

Disrupts NA proceedings by pointing out quorum

Dr Mirza, who had served as the NA speaker during the previous Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government, claimed that there was no real opposition in the house at the moment, adding that there could be no democracy and the parliament could not be strengthened without a strong opposition.

The GDA member from Badin said the judiciary had an oversight role and the government through the “one-sided resolution” had mocked the Parliament.

She also lamented the Sindh government over its alleged failure to provide relief to the rain-affected people in the province.

As soon as Dr Mirza took the seat, another GDA member Ghous Bux Mahar pointed out lack of quorum in an apparent move to prevent Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani from giving the floor to Opposition Leader Raja Riaz who had already stood up to respond to Dr Mirza.

The deputy speaker later announced adjournment of the assembly sitting till Friday morning after finding the house not in order due to lack of quorum for which the presence of 86 MNAs (one-fourth of the 342-member house) was required.

Earlier, the deputy speaker gave a ruling that jobs and the facility of natural gas be provided to the locals from where deposits of the natural resources were discovered. Besides giving the ruling, Mr Durrani also referred the matter to the concerned house committee after a number of lawmakers protested over the refusal of the oil and gas exploration companies to give jobs to the local people.

The issue came up under discussion when MNAs Jamaluddin, Muhammad Anwar and Salahuddin Ayubi of the JUI-F and independent MNA from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Mohsin Dawar through a Calling Attention Notice drew the attention of the government “regarding not accommodating the local people in jobs in exploration of natural resources of North Waziristan, FR Lucky Marwat, Bettani area and District Bannu West.”

Responding to the notice, Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik said the exploration companies were bound under the agreements to provide jobs to locals. Currently, he said, two companies Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) were operating in the localities pointed out by the lawmakers.

According to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, the minister said the OGDCL had hired around 275 locals as the project workers there and as many as 310 for the Wali Block Well-I, adding the company would make more temporary hiring of locals for its planned 3-D seismic survey of 500 square kilometer area. Similarly, he said, the MPCL had so far provided around 3,200 jobs to unskilled locals in its operational fields there.

Answering a question, Mr Malik said there was a ban on new gas connections due to the extreme scarcity of the commodity. He was of the view that the imported gas was too expensive and unaffordable for consumers.

The movers of the notice, however, challenged the figures provided by the minister.

Mohsin Dawar claimed that gas was already being provided to some unknown localities through a pipeline. He alleged that the MPCL considered itself above the law.

The deputy speaker, however, said that he had already referred the issue to the committee where the members could discuss it in detail.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2022