• Palwasha asks if taxpayers’ money was used to benefit private housing society
• Aleem lashes out, calls committee members ‘blackmailers’

ISLAMABAD: A hea­t­­ed exchange was witnes­sed in the Senate Stan­ding Committee on Com­mu­ni­cations on Thursday when PPP Senator Pal­washa Khan and Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan traded sharp remarks over the construction of a road allegedly benefiting a private housing society.

The confrontation beg­an when Senator Pal­wa­sha questioned whether public funds had been used to build a road primarily serving a private housing scheme. She asked the minister why he had lost his temper over what she described as a simple and legitimate question, adding that such a reaction suggested a sense of guilt.

Responding angrily, the minister warned that personal attacks would be met in kind. “If you make personal attacks, you will face the same behaviour,” he said, adding that while the government was willing to clarify its position, it would not lower itself to the level he felt the senator had adopted.

However, she maintained it was her right as a parliamentarian to question the use of taxpayers’ money and reiterated that she had merely sought clarification on whether the road had been constructed to benefit a private housing society. The exchange escalated further when the minister accused committee members of being “blackmailers and dishonest”, prom­pting strong objections.

Senator Pal­wa­sha said she had been humiliated by the minister’s remarks and announced she would raise the matter with her party’s top leadership. Following the intervention of the committee chairman, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, the minister tendered an apology. But Senator Palwasha declined to accept it.

Earlier in the meeting, Minister Aleem Khan briefed the committee on the performance of the National Highway Autho­rity (NHA), claiming a 63 per cent increase in revenue as a result of reforms and improved management. He said when he assumed office in 2024, NHA’s revenue stood at Rs66.8 billion, a figure that had remained unch­anged for six years. Since then, he said, revenue had risen to Rs108.9bn.

The minister expressed confidence that by the time he leaves office, NHA’s revenue would range between Rs400 and Rs500bn. He also predicted that in the next fiscal year, the authority would generate more income than the allocations it receives under the Public Sector Develop­m­ent Program­­me.

Addressing criticism that NHA was being run like a housing society, Ale­­­­­em Khan said he had no reg­rets, arguing that the me­­a­sures adopted had bro­u­ght billions of rupees into the national exchequer.

Briefing the committee on development projects, the minister highlighted progress on motorways, highways, service areas and other road infrastructure schemes aimed at improving connectivity and supporting economic activity. He anno­unced that NHA plans to launch a helicopter-based air ambulance service in 2026 to ensure rapid emergency response on highways and motorways.

Also, he said, work had already begun on the Ma­­n­sehra-Kaghan Highway, while the PC-I of the Suk­kur-Hyderabad Motor­way had been approved and the project would be executed in five sections. The Hyderabad-Karachi Motorway, he added, was being linked to Karachi Port to reduce accidents and improve traffic management, with funds already available.

To promote tourism, the minister said, discussions were underway with the governments of Gil­git-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to transfer mountainous roads to NHA for the developme­nt of quality infrastructure. He also announced the Sialkot-Rawalpindi Moto­rway would be upgraded from four to six lanes, reducing the Lahore-Islamabad distance by about 100km and cutting travel time significantly.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2025