Of bills, rats and scuffles: Assembly passes finance bill amid PTI absentees

CM vows action against those missing; Tuesday’s scuffle slammed by oppositions

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill 2016-17 and approved demands for grants for all 59 sectors. Cut motions submitted by members of the opposition and treasury benches were rejected during the session.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak addressed the house and announced an enquiry against those lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who were absent when a resolution was moved to pass the finance bill.

“I need names of the MPAs who are absent today or have left the house and didn’t participate in the vote,” he said. “We will take action against those lawmakers on a party level no matter what happens,” the CM told the floor of the house.

Earlier, Opposition Leader Maulana Lutfur Rahman and Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak lashed out at the government for Tuesday’s scuffle. They labelled it the worst incident of its kind in the history of the assembly.

“The assembly is a consultative body and there should be tolerance in its members; especially the treasury which needs to listen to the opposition,” Rahman said. “What should be expected from the opposition is coming from the government benches and that too repeatedly,” the JUI-F MPA said. He slammed the behavior of Shah Farman and asked the speaker to teach his fellow party workers “some manners”. He said he was ashamed of the language used by ministers in Tuesday’s session.

Babak also slammed the incident. “The speaker can expunge a word from the house proceedings under the rules, but if a member stands up and attacks another, that cannot be undone.”

CM’s address

Khattak was clearly angry in his speech and took Wapda and Pesco to task for eating 600 to 700 megawatts of electricity in K-P’s share of the national grid on a daily basis due to their own inability to recover bills.

“We will launch a campaign against them if our share is not provided. They are stealing our share to hide their own incompetence. Load shedding will reduce to half if we are given what is due. We will not tolerate it anymore and I have decided to fix this matter,” Khattak vowed on the floor of the house.

He highlighted the PTI-led regime’s achievements relating to the recovery of net hydel profit arrears and the uncapping after 1993. He pointed towards the 100 mmcfd of gas for the K-P industrial sector, Chashma Right Bank Canal agreement, Peshawar to DI Khan Expressway with railway tracks under the CPEC, Kohat to Jhand Road and the Industrial Park in K-P.

He lashed out at political interference in every matter and said it was the root-cause of all evil. He even held the bureaucracy responsible for the current situation of the province.

“You should not expect [anything] from them. They have always given wrong advice. You are their bosses and have to take work from them,” Khattak said.

Oh, rats

The giant rats were once again a topic of discussion. In the past, some strange statements were issued regarding their origin and this session was no exception. In earlier statements, Shah Farman said the rats were at least 10-years-old.

This is in stark contrast to scientific claims that these vermin usually do not survive beyond two years of age. Meanwhile, Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan said these pests arrived in crates from outside Peshawar.

However, Khattak put a new spin on matters on Tuesday, saying they came from the rubble of removed encroachments.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2016.