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Saturday, 26 November, 2011
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Dysfunctional ministry exposes ‘good governance’ ISLAMABAD
T
IRfaN BUKHaRI
HE mismanagement and inefficiency of the government has virtually placed important national educational and medical institutions under a ‘paper-ministry’, as the government has failed to make the newly-created Ministry of National Regulations and Services fully functional despite the passage of around a month since its notification. Apparently to accommodate PPP and coalition parliamentarians on ministerial berths, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on October 26 created four new federal ministries with divisions, including the Ministries of National Heritage and Integration, Disaster Management, National Regulations and Services and Food Security and Research. However, the ministry exists only on paper, as it has no premises and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has also not appointed any minister, minister of state and parliamentary secretary for the ministry of National Regulations and Services. As the ministry has no office, no staff, allocation of budget by the Finance Division is simply out of question. Prime Minister Gilani appointed Ghulam Rasool Aphan as secretary for the ministry of National Regulations and Services on November 24, thirty days after the creation of the ministry. The other three ministries created on October 26 have become functional to some extent, as Mir Israrullah Zehri from Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) was given the portfolio of the ministry of Food Security and Research, while Samina Khalid Ghurki of the PPP was made federal minister for National Heritage and Integration. Gilani has also not appointed a minister for the Ministry of Disaster Management, but the ministry is functioning under bureaucrats.
An official of the ministry of National Heritage and Integration also raised concern over the issue of understaffing in the ministry. “We have not been provided full staff and even budget for the ministry has not been allocated yet … the ministry was provided space in Evacuee Trust Building to establish office, but we were provided no funds to setup offices in the premises,” he said. The departments that come under the Ministry of National Regulations and Services include Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Pakistan Council for Nursing, College of Physicians and Surgeons, National Councils for Tibb and Homeopathy, Pharmacy Council of Pakistan, international exchange of students and teachers, foreign studies and training, national association in medical and allied fields such as Pakistan Red Crescent Society and TB Association, directorate of central health establishment, Academy of Educational Planning and management, Central Board of Film Censor Islamabad, external examination and equivalence of degrees and diplomas, Commission for Standard Higher Education, Women and Chest Disease Hospital, Rawalpindi and Federal Government Tuberculosis Centre, Rawalpindi. “Today, these institutions have no mother ministry as they have been transferred from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, while the Ministry of National Regulations does not exist on the ground,” an official of the ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination said. Another source in the government told Pakistan Today that the prime minister had failed to appoint federal ministers and state ministers for the ministries of disaster management and national regulations and services due to differences between coalition partners over securing ministerial berths. “One portfolio is likely to be given to the PML-Q while a PPP leader would be accommodated on the other,” he added.
LaHoRe: Supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party scuffle during the party’s foundation Day celebrations at aiwan-e-Iqbal on friday. INP
Govt gets two money bills passed as PML-N continues NA boycott ISLAMABAD Staff RePoRt
The National Assembly on Friday passed two money bills envisaging additional revenue measures of Rs 38 billion in the current fiscal year by imposing Gas Infrastructure Development Cess and Petroleum Levy on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Since PML-N legislators continued their boycott of the National Assembly proceedings for the second consecutive day, the government easily sailed through the passage of the bills despite PPP-S chief Aftab Sherpao asking it to defer the bills until the major opposition party joined the House, since the matter was of paramount public interest. However, two other opposition parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and PPP-S distanced themselves from the PML-N boycott over the memo controversy, drawing a clear line between the opposition parties. “We are part of opposition group benches but will stand
with right decisions whether taken by the treasury or our colleagues in the opposition,” said JUI-F MNA Laiq Muhammad Khan, speaking on a point of order. Interestingly, despite his party’s boycott, PML-N member from Sargodha Shafqat Hayat Baloch was the sole PML-N member who remained present in the House and only got a clue of his party’s boycott when pointed out by Aftab Sherpao. Later, he also left the House as well. Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar informed the house that opposition had proposed some amendments to the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Bill 2011, which the government would accommodate despite their boycott. Earlier, supporting the arguments of Sherpao, Rasheed Godil of the MQM and Kashmala Tariq of the PML-Q also opposed the passage of the bills on pretext that the bill was bulldozed by the finance standing committee and no member was informed of the agenda. However, treasury members Nazar
Gondal and Munir Orakzai opposed their views and said the committee had passed the bills unanimously and the meeting was also attended by PML-N members. Later, the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Bill 2011 was passed unanimously while clause IV of the bill was rejected by the government. Responding to a point of order raised by Prince Mohyuddin, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani informed the National Assembly that the Finance Division had been directed to release Rs 1 billion to the National Highway Authority (NHA) to resume work on the Lowari Tunnel project. Nadeem Afzal Gondal of the PPP alleged that a young girl, Natasha, was raped in Taxila which fell under the constituency of Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, but no action had been taken against the culprits. He said the nation knew well how nurses were being treated and assaulted in Lahore for raising a voice for their rights.
Buried by Zia, Freemasons now haunt Punjab govt Banned secret society looks to recover prime properties taken over by government
g
LAhORE UMaIR aZIZ
Top government officials in Punjab are perturbed over a legal move by the Freemasons that can ultimately result in the loss of prime property currently under the possession of the Punjab government, Pakistan Today learnt on Friday. The Freemasons, one of the most mysterious and controversial societies across the world, were banned in Pakistan by former president Ziaul Haq under the Martial Law Regulation (MLR) 56 in 1983, charging them of “anti-state” and “anti-Islam” activities and handing over their moveable and immoveable assets to provincial governments with immediate effect. In
Punjab alone they possessed three prime properties: 90-The Mall (Lahore), 307 (Multan) and 1307 (Rawalpindi). At the time of partition, the estimated number of properties they possessed across Pakistan was around 30. However, what happened during Ziaul Haq’s regime was the epitome of a long going controversy starting in 1973 when the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution against Freemasons declaring their activities “anti-state” and “anti-Islam”. The federal government also took Punjab’s lead while Khan Abdul Qayum Khan, the interior minister at the time, declared them innocent. However, in 1973, the deputy commissioner of Lahore requisi-
Freemasons’ ‘Kothi Jadugar’, now known as 90-The Mall
tioned 90-The Mall for the Islamic Summit for two months and the deputy inspector general (DIG) office was set up there as a makeshift
arrangement, but the building was never returned even though the Lahore High Court (LHC) single and double bench decided in the
Freemasons’ favour. The government then moved the Supreme Court against the LHC verdict in 1978. Finally, Ziaul Haq took over and imposed a ban on the Freemasons, while in 1986 the Supreme Court decided that the issue was no more as the MLR 56 had been given legal cover under the 8th Amendment in 1985 and told the Freemasons to appeal at a “proper forum” in case of any grievances. Since the term “proper forum” has not been defined in any law, the Freemasons wrote to various high offices such as successive presidents and prime ministers, including both Nawaz Sharif and the late Benazir Bhutto, but did not receive any reply. Finally in 1995, Freemason Kabir A Sheikh and five others filed a writ petition (8907/95) challenging the MLR 56, pleading that they were a philanthropist organisation
Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.
while building their argument around the history and legal status of 90-The Mall, at the time under the use of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. According to court records, Freemasons, all residents of the provincial capital, filed the writ petition through their counsel Dr Khalid Ranjha against the Punjab government, which was represented by the additional advocate general. During the course of the case, the Interior Ministry had also filed its comments on the issue saying that the available material showed the Freemasons were involved in “anti-state” and “antiIslam” activities, to which Freemasons submitted an affidavit declaring that they practiced Islam as a religion and their beliefs were similar to common Muslims. ContinueD on Page 04