PESHAWAR, May 30: The NWFP Assembly on Friday took a strong notice of a statement by Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, wherein he rejected the demand of provinces to constitute the National Finance Commission.
The assembly session, presided over by Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan, lashed out at the attitude of the federal government towards the demands of the federating units. The members held the federal government responsible for the perennial backwardness and growing poverty in the province.
Speaking on the occasion, PPP’s Abdul Jabbar Khan, who moved an adjournment motion against Mr Aziz’s statement, accused the federal government of denying federating units their constitutional rights.
He claimed that the Centre had yet not paid Rs298 billion outstanding against it under the head of net hydel profit to the NWFP.
This august House, through unanimous resolutions, had demanded of the Centre to constitute the NFC and pay provincial dues, but the Centre didn’t entertain their demands, he added.
The PPP MPA told the house that Mr Aziz had categorically said the NFC could not be constituted before the annual budget. The federal government wanted to deprive provinces of their constitutional rights on different pretexts, he added.
Under Article 160 of the Constitution, he said, the president was bound to constitute the NFC, comprising the federal finance minister and four provincial finance ministers, but, he said, the federal government was not following the Constitution.
He refuted the claim made by Mr Aziz that provinces had not yet made nominations on the commission. The president could make appointments of four provincial ministers, he added.
Mr Khan was of the view that Mr Aziz had made the statement on behalf of the president, otherwise, he could not have held federating units responsible for the delay in the matter.
Taking the floor, Bashir Bilour of the Awami National Party suggested to the house to send a joint memorandum to the federal government seeking payment of its share in the federal divisible pool, constitution of a fresh NFC and an increase in the net hydel profit.
Senior minister Sirajul Haq supported the motion and said Mr Aziz’s stand was against the rights of province. He said he held discussions with his counterparts in the other three provinces on these issues. “We hold different views on the formula for funds distribution, but we agree on an increase in the share of provinces,” he added.
He said the NWFP was the poorest among all the four provinces where 44 per cent population lived below the poverty line. The gross monthly income in Pakistan was Rs950, but in the NWFP it was Rs725 per month, he claimed.
Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan advised to the mover to convert his adjournment motion into a resolution and table it on June 2.
Dr Saleem Khan, an MPA from Swabi, tabled another adjournment motion, seeking provision of house jobs to the students of private medical colleges. He said students of private medical colleges were being denied house jobs at public hospitals which was violation of human rights.
Health minister Inayatullah said there were limited seats in the government hospitals and they could not entertain all the students. It was the responsibility of the owners of private colleges to provide them the house job facility.
The mover didn’t press his motion. During the question-answer session, Qazi Mohammad Asad, an MPA from Haripur, presented a comparative study of the district-wise appointment of the police force and demanded an increase in the number of policemen in the Haripur district.
He said his district had a population of over 800,000 but only 529 policemen, including officials, were policing the district, while Kohat and Bannu districts which had much less population than Haripur, had 1,302 and 1,410 policemen, respectively.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Malik Zafar Azam said that the province was short of funds, but the government would gradually increase the number of force in the district.
Later, the law minister on behalf of the chief minister tabled the Sharai Nizam-i-Adal (Amendment) Bill, 2003, for its consideration and approval. The bill was unanimously adopted by the house.