The stand-off continues: Speaker forms negotiation committee amid boycott

KPH to shut down health units, centres run by it, Tarakai tells the house.

PESHAWAR:

The continued boycott of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly proceedings by opposition lawmakers on Tuesday prompted speaker Asad Qaiser to form a five-member committee to convince them to attend the current session.

The five-member committee comprises senior ministers Inayatullah Khan and Shahram Khan Tarakai, Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi as well as Finance Minister Muzaffar Syed.

At the start of the proceedings, which began half-an-hour late, Qaiser urged opposition members to attend the session.



The opposition boycott continued for the second consecutive day against the October 30 ruckus, which erupted after JUI-F leader Lutfur Rehman criticised the Islamabad sit-in of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Not a single question was taken up and most of the opposition queries on the agenda lapsed. Also, the absence of opposition members forced the house to defer the K-P Senior Citizens’ Bill 2014. Introducing the bill for consideration, K-P Adviser for Social Welfare Dr Mehr Taj Roghani asked the speaker to incorporate two amendments suggested by opposition lawmakers. However, the speaker told her that an amendment could not be passed in the absence of the principal mover and deferred the matter for another time.

In addition, a notice to discuss a query related to the distribution criteria of development funds across the province lapsed due to the absence of the opposition.

KPH health centers’ closure

Health minister Shahram Tarakai informed the house that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Primary Healthcare (KPH) programme has announced the closure of mother child health (MCH) centres and basic health units (BHUs) across the province due to the criticism of the K-P Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Responding to a point of order raised by JI’s Inayatullah Khan, he said the MCH centres would be closed by October 31, while BHUs will be shut down by December 31.

He said health authorities wanted the Sarhad Rural Support Program (SRSP) and KPH to continue running the units till 2016, as per agreement. He added that a meeting would be held with SRSP officials to resolve the issue. Tarakai claimed the programme was doing an excellent job and the government would be unable to fill the void if they were closed down. Speaker Asad Qaiser, who also heads the PAC, said that a legal issue had been raised in the committee and there was no question of criticising their performance.

Adviser for Social Welfare Roghani also warned against closure of these health facilities, saying the programme had been running since 2002 and its sudden closure would create a crisis. Her sentiments were echoed by Local Government Minister Inayatullah Khan.

K-P Law Officers Appointment Bill 2014

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government introduced a bill placing a ban on the appointment of legal advisers and special councils for government legislation except in special circumstances necessary to maintain public interest.

The bill was introduced by the K-P law minister. The house also passed the K-P Zakat and Usher (amendment) Bill 2014, while audit reports on the accounts of the provincial government, appropriation accounts, financial statements as well as audit reports on revenue receipts and public sector enterprise were presented before the house.

The session was adjourned till Friday afternoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2014.