ISLAMABAD, May 8: The National Assembly on Tuesday ordered a probe by one of its standing committees into allotment of plots by the government in the Islamabad capital territory after opposition members directly accused Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of doing illegal favours.

The issue was referred to the standing committee on interior after a heated discussion on a motion tabled by seven opposition members about what they called a “matter of sufficient public importance” regarding allotment of plots by the present government to non-governmental and private organisations.

Minister of State for Interior Zafar Iqbal Warraich said although government believed in a policy of merit, he had no objection to referring the matter to the standing committee in view of concerns voiced by house members about the decisions of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

But he suggested the committee go into allotments made over the past 25 years to find out where wrongs had been done rather than only those under the present government.

But Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, a People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) MNA from Islamabad, said he and other movers of the motion wanted an investigation into the allotments to which they had referred, and the government was free to investigate previous allotments if it wanted.

Noor Jehan Panezai of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, who was presiding over the house at the time, also ordered that the movers of the motion — PML-N’s Khwaja Mohammad Asif, PPP’s Ghulam Murtaza Satti, Nayyar Bokhari, Syed Zafar Ali Shah and Qamar Zaman Kaira, and MMA’s Liaquat Baloch and Mian Mohammad Aslam — be called to the standing committee meetings as observers.

Mr Bokhari said the prime minister should not regard the capital territory as a jagir while he objected to what he called irregular and illegal allotment of 32 plots to private schools, 33 plots to federal government secretaries and one to an NGO in Islamabad’s main Fatima Jinnah Park at throwaway rates.

Mr Satti said the prime minister had allotted plots to federal secretaries to “keep them under control” and added that a “team of prime minister’s favourites” could be seen whether it was the stock market scam or the privatisation of Pakistan Steel and banks. He also accused the prime minister of trying to oblige “some World Bank people”, which he did not identify.

The member said he was aware of three agro farms in the area allotted to three brothers and also questioned the justification of NGOs becoming a burden on the national exchequer rather than raising their own funds.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah accused the prime minister of ordering illegal allotment of plots “from time to time” and called for adherence to laws and one’s oath of office whose violations, he said, had created “a very sad state of affairs”.

He said he was aware of 27 plots allotted to National Assembly members at one time while a no-confidence motion was pending against a house speaker, but he did not specify when.

But the member later told reporters that it had happened in the 1980s when Syed Fakhar Imam was the speaker during General Ziaul Haq’s regime.