The federal government and the PTI were at loggerheads in the National Assembly on Friday as the latter claimed “not enough” was being done to provide relief to those affected by the recent floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and boycotted the session over the disqualification[1] of its lawmakers.
Record rains in KP, which started on August 15, have wreaked havoc[2] across the province. The provincial government declared an emergency as torrential rains ravaged homes, displaced families, and left a trail of destruction across Buner, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, and beyond.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan expressed his dissatisfaction with the help provided by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to the flood-affected population of KP, particularly Buner — the worst-hit area in the province — stating that the authority “did not help as much as it should have”.
“I say at this forum that we will continue to be at odds with the NDMA,” Gohar said on the floor. “I said day-before-yesterday that the NDMA only gave us a few supplies in Buner, while 236 people have been killed, 120 are injured, and 1,470 shops and 875 homes have been destroyed.”
Gohar was then interrupted by Law and Human Rights Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, before Speaker Ayaz Sadiq stepped in and offered to arrange a visit of the opposition to the NDMA’s head office.
Tarar termed Gohar’s complaint as “politics just for the sake of politics” and urged the party to focus on people’s issues.
The law minister explained that disaster response has three tiers.
“There is a district disaster management authority, which the province’s deputy commissioners run; then there is the provincial disaster management authority, which is also run by the province,” Tarar said.
“The NDMA centres around information sharing. I will provide a detailed explanation, but if the opposition asks questions for the sake of politics and then walks out, then I don’t know what assembly we are sitting in.”
The speaker noted that PTI lawmakers will claim they did not have any room to speak in the House, despite Gohar and PTI stalwart Asad Qaiser having spoken on several occasions.
Later, Tarar said that Rs1.3 billion had been released to the NDMA for flood relief and other activities.
“The nation needs to work together for flood relief,” the minister said on the floor of the National Assembly. “The federal government is working with provinces on relief operations.
The minister added that the NDMA releases alerts and has a mobile app.
“We recommend that those in affected areas download the app; 92 per cent of predictions are accurate,“ he said.
“Relief is a long way, so we ask that the nation stand with and help their brethren affected by floods,” Tarar said.
‘Ready to sit and talk on Balochistan’: Talal Chaudhry
Minister of State for Interior Affairs Talal Chaudhry addressed the house and spoke about the issue of missing persons, expressing the federal government’s willingness to sit with the Balochistan government and other political figures in the province for talks.
“The government has no tolerance for missing persons. No institution wants to be blamed, nor accused of violating any sort of law,” the state minister said. “The government is always ready to take other parties on board or have an all-party conference.
Chaudhry noted that the suicide bombing at a Balochistan National Party-Mengal rally in Quetta earlier this week took place without security clearance from the interior ministry.
“Political gatherings are soft targets for terrorists, which is why we insist that programmes of this nature need security clearance,” the minister said. “There is a lot of information required before granting security clearance for events like this, which is why we discourage it.”
The state minister added that the government is ready and willing to speak to the Balochistan government and prominent political figures, as the government had done in the wake of the Jaffar Express attack earlier this year.
“We have always said that we need to sit,” Chaudhry said. “The centre stands with the provinces amid terrorism, the National Action Plan or other matters. This scourge of terrorism will only be defeated if we stand united politically.”
Separately, the state minister said he was in contact with the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which is participating in an ongoing sit-in[3] in Islamabad. However, he did not mention the group by name, nor who he was in contact with.
The group is protesting for the release of remanded[4] group members, including chief convener Dr Mahrang Baloch[5].
“Daughters of this country are sitting on an important road in Islamabad, claiming that we do not care about them,” Chaudhry said. “This is not true. We are trying to provide security and facilitate them.
“We are trying to handle things legally, but a lot of people are going to the protest for photo sessions and point scoring,” he added, stressing that the government nonetheless remains open to talks.
“I have no issue going there on behalf of the government,” Chaudhry said. “We have remained in contact, but their demands cannot be fulfilled by us. The courts have made decisions; we cannot just bail people out and send them home.”
References
- ^ disqualification (www.dawn.com)
- ^ wreaked havoc (www.dawn.com)
- ^ ongoing sit-in (www.dawn.com)
- ^ remanded (www.dawn.com)
- ^ Dr Mahrang Baloch (www.dawn.com)