He said that the FATA reforms package has been prepared after consultation with all stakeholders, adding both the houses of Parliament have also held extensive deliberations in this regard. "We respect views of all FATA parliamentarians and the government wants to move forward on this issue while developing consensus among them," he said. Qadir Baloch said the cabinet has approved the FATA reforms package. Under the package, the tribal areas will be brought into mainstream in a period of five years, the minister added. He said that a decision has been taken to abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). He further stated that Rs 110 billion will be spent on the development of tribal areas in order to bring them at par with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other developed areas of the country.
FATA MNA Shah Jee Gul Afridi warned the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government while giving October 09 as deadline for putting in place legislation to bring the FATA people into mainstream of the country, otherwise a huge protest would be held in front of the Parliament House. He said that all political parties, except those which have their own interests, would participate in the protest.
Responding to a calling attention notice, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry rejected the criticism of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the National Action Plan (NAP) and said that implementation on the plan has resulted in significant decline in terrorist incidents in the country. He said that responsibility also rests with the provinces to play their part for implementation on the NAP. The minister said that Pakistan is carrying out phased-wise fencing of its border with Afghanistan in order to ensure better border management. Talal further said similarly posts have been equipped with modern system in order to check the movement of people.
Later, the National Assembly also approved 'The Apprenticeship Bill, 2017' for developing, promoting and regulating systematic apprenticeship programme in the industry to secure certain minimum standards of skills and vocational training facilities in various fields.
Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho of PPP pointed out quorum just at the moment the House took up 'The Right of Access to Information Bill, 2017' for its passage. After pointing out quorum, the members of PTI and PPP went out from the House. The Panel of Chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Bashir Virk suspended proceedings of the House for 10 minutes due to lack of quorum.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Zahid Hamid made a commitment with opposition members of PTI and PPP that the government would not take up 'The right of Access to Information Bill, 2017'. After that, the members of PTI and PPP came back in the House to take part in the proceedings.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017