Candid admission: Minister dubs CDA ‘a state within state’
Parliamentary body asked to compile report on CDA in three months.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed. PHOTO: na.gov.pk
ISLAMABAD:
In what appears to be an unprecedented admission of helplessness, a federal cabinet member on Wednesday came down heavily on the capital’s civic agency for its poor performance and irregularities.
“Today a government minister is telling you openly that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has become a state within state,” said Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed in the Senate.
Following the admission by the minister, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani directed the Standing Committee on Cabinet Division to compile a comprehensive report on working of the CDA in three months.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is minister in-charge of the Cabinet Division but Sheikh Aftab has been assigned the duties to look after the affairs.
The candid criticism came when the Senate chairman asked the minister to respond queries about issues related to the civic agency.
The minister took the opportunity to express his helplessness saying “I have lost hope [from CDA] and told the prime minister in writing to entrust the responsibility to some other minister.”
Ahmed said he had formally informed the PM who had assigned him to look after the affairs of the Cabinet Division, but he was helpless when it came to the civic agency.
“I have told the prime minister to hand over the CDA to the minister who could deal with them the way they understand,” he added.
The minister, recalling the rule of the former military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and said, “We never compromised our principles despite atrocities but it is quite distressing that the CDA has become a state within state.”
The minister acknowledged that all complaints against the CDA were genuine and said, “If you [Senate chairman] announce that you are accepting complaints against the CDA, tens of thousands of people would be standing in front of the Parliament House.”
However, the minister gave a clean chit to the incumbent chairman of the authority, saying “I know the chairman is an honest man but perhaps he is also helpless.”
He asked the Senate chairman to take any action he wanted when it came to the issue to but he was not in any position to defend CDA.
The admission by the minister provided the opposition an opportunity to censure the government for its policies. The senators from the opposition bench, however, appreciated the minister’s honest and candid statement.
“There is no precedent of such helplessness of the government as mentioned by the minister,” said Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan.
He said that the government was actually ‘paralysed’ and was busy in corruption through mega projects such as the Metro Bus and the Nandipur power projects.
“I feel sorry for the minister,” Ahsan added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2015.
In what appears to be an unprecedented admission of helplessness, a federal cabinet member on Wednesday came down heavily on the capital’s civic agency for its poor performance and irregularities.
“Today a government minister is telling you openly that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has become a state within state,” said Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed in the Senate.
Following the admission by the minister, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani directed the Standing Committee on Cabinet Division to compile a comprehensive report on working of the CDA in three months.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is minister in-charge of the Cabinet Division but Sheikh Aftab has been assigned the duties to look after the affairs.
The candid criticism came when the Senate chairman asked the minister to respond queries about issues related to the civic agency.
The minister took the opportunity to express his helplessness saying “I have lost hope [from CDA] and told the prime minister in writing to entrust the responsibility to some other minister.”
Ahmed said he had formally informed the PM who had assigned him to look after the affairs of the Cabinet Division, but he was helpless when it came to the civic agency.
“I have told the prime minister to hand over the CDA to the minister who could deal with them the way they understand,” he added.
The minister, recalling the rule of the former military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and said, “We never compromised our principles despite atrocities but it is quite distressing that the CDA has become a state within state.”
The minister acknowledged that all complaints against the CDA were genuine and said, “If you [Senate chairman] announce that you are accepting complaints against the CDA, tens of thousands of people would be standing in front of the Parliament House.”
However, the minister gave a clean chit to the incumbent chairman of the authority, saying “I know the chairman is an honest man but perhaps he is also helpless.”
He asked the Senate chairman to take any action he wanted when it came to the issue to but he was not in any position to defend CDA.
The admission by the minister provided the opposition an opportunity to censure the government for its policies. The senators from the opposition bench, however, appreciated the minister’s honest and candid statement.
“There is no precedent of such helplessness of the government as mentioned by the minister,” said Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan.
He said that the government was actually ‘paralysed’ and was busy in corruption through mega projects such as the Metro Bus and the Nandipur power projects.
“I feel sorry for the minister,” Ahsan added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2015.