Delimitation issue, pending questions echo in PA

Opposition demands constitution of a committee to assist the ECP

LAHORE: The legislators of both treasury and opposition benches expressed their strong concerns over the matter of delimitation while protesting against the absence of secretary environment to answer the pending questions of the lawmakers.

On a point of order, Opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said constituencies have been shuffled at a massive level, the documents which were being provided by the ECP to those who wanted to file an appeal against this shuffling were illegible. He demanded constitution of a committee to assist the ECP over this issue and the complications could be removed.

Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Sheikh Allauddin seconded the stance of Rasheed and said a lot of complications were there. He said it was not only the opposition that was facing such problems, the treasury benches were also facing the same. He said it was an alarming situation that the record being provided by the ECP was not readable. He also disclosed that there was a map on which all subdivisions of tehsils (Mozaajaat) were missing although the roads were present on it.

Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said neither ECP was under the provincial government nor the committee of the provincial government could summon anyone. “This is a legal matter which needs to be dealt with legally rather than delivering speeches in House,” he remarked. He suggested to all political parties to constitute committees on district level and debate on it and then suggestions be taken to the ECP.



As the question-answer session started, the speaker said the questions relating to revenue department would be answered by its parliamentary secretary who did not appear before the house due to her illness.

The movers who had put questions relating to this department protested over pending the questions for the second time, adding how the system would run with such a lethargic response from departments concerned.

PTI’s Rahila Anwar, Asif Mehmood, Arif Abbasi, PML-N’s Mian Tariq Mehmood raised strong concern over the pending questions.

Meanwhile, Asif sat on the ground in front of the speaker when he was not allowed to speak.



The legislators from both sides were once again at the loggerheads over questions relating to environmental protection, claiming the department concerned did nothing to weed out pollution but proved a white elephant. The PTI’s legislators and PMLN’s Mian Muhammad Rafique, Malik Arshad, Mian Tahir Jameel and PPP’s Faiza Ahmad Malik were not satisfied with the answers given by PS Chatha.

Faiza Ahmed Malik asked why a policy on smog has not been presented in the House even after the passage of three years and why the matter was being dragged despite having smog affected people at large scale. Rana Sanaullah assured the House the policy would be submitted on Friday.

Later, PTI’s Asif Mehmood pointed out quorum upon which the government failed to show up the required number of legislators which forced the speaker to adjourn the House for Friday (today) 9am.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2018.