On Monday the matter of ministers' absence was raised several times resulting in the deferring of the business related to them to next day. The privilege motion of Israrullah Khan Gandapore and adjournment motion of Irfanullah Durrani was deferred due to the absence of the ministers concerned.
The soft-spoken JUI-F legislator, Mufti Kifayatullah, even called that only four and half ministers are present in the house while his colleague, Mufti Said Janan, said that more than 12 ministers are absent from the house. He especially mentioned the names of ministers with important portfolios like Elementary and Secondary Education Minister, Sardar Hussein Babak, Minister for Higher Education, Qazi Mohammad Asad and both Senior Ministers Rahimdad Khan and Bashir Ahmad Bilour.
The chair, Kiramatullah Khan, also joined the angry legislators and called for relieving the habitual absent ministers from the cabinet to include new ministers in the cabinet. He said that instead of making the house a joke, such ministers should sit in their houses.
Provincial Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussein, said that the defence of such ministers was difficult saying that he had already talked to them on the issue. However, he said that they were also human-beings and had some compulsions. But, he said that some ministers had become habitual of avoiding the proceedings of the house. He said that parliamentary leaders concerned should seek explanation from such ministers. Meanwhile, the house deferred the consideration of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Payment of Wages Bill 2012 till tomorrow.
Legislators from opposition benches, Israrullah Khan Gandapore (PPP-Sherpao), Mufti Kifayatullah JUI-F and Abdul Sattar Khan of PML-N requested the chair for referring the bill to Law Reforms Committee of the house for detailed review. Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Arshad Abdullah said that the matter was related to the wages, security of the employees and had come under the 18th constitutional amendment bill to provincialise the issue of the wages. Therefore, he requested for bringing the bill under consideration.
In response to the point of orders of Ateef-ur-Rehman and Alamgir Khan Khalil, Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussein, reaffirmed the resolve of the government to defeat the designs of terrorists irrespective of their strength. He said that attack on Peshawar airport was a unique incident of its nature. He paid tributes not only to Pakistan army and Police, but also to the residents of the adjacent village of the airport for fighting terrorists with bravery.
The legislators from the area besides demanding compensation for the families of martyred and injured also demanded compensating those whose houses or other properties had been destroyed or damaged in the incident. Mian Iftikhar said that beside compensation to the families of martyrs and injured, payments to those whose properties had been destroyed was also under consideration.
He said that the terrorists were 10 in number and was trying to occupy the airbase. He said that foreigners were also among them and specific tattoos on their bodies were for the identification of their group. He said they were mostly Uzbeks. The provincial minister said that the terrorists had come with complete preparation and their other accomplices were waiting in tribal area for taking control of the installations. However, due to better security, none of the terrorist either entered into airport or airbase.
He said that three rocket were fired on the airport with the purpose to take benefit of the possible anarchy after the attack. But, due to security alert they meet their fate. He said that in the first stage of operation against terrorists' one military and one police cop were martyred and three police personnel were injured while six civilians were also killed. The provincial minister also condemned car bomb blast in Jamrud Bazaar, of Khyber Agency and demanded of the federal government to give compensation to the families of the victims. The chair later adjourned the proceedings of the house till Tuesday.