ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau’s decision to file references against three retired generals and allotment of 88 acres of land to a former chief of army staff echoed in the Senate on Friday.

During the question hour, the House was also informed that as many as 1.114 million cases were filed in the Supreme Court and four high courts during the last five years – 81,492 in Supreme Court, 697,447 in Lahore High Court, 175,762 in Sindh High Court, 99,806 in Peshawar High Court and 39,327 in Balochistan High Court.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar raised the question of land allotment to former service chiefs as post retirement benefit, saying that his repeated questions on the issue fell on deaf ears.

Speaking on a point of public importance, he said a day earlier, the NAB reopened a corruption reference against some retired army generals in a land transfer case that remained dormant for over a decade.

He said a former army chief was allotted 88 acres of land but the questions asked about the legality of it were never answered except for a terse statement that it had been done in accordance with the Constitution.

However, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani did not allow any further discussion on the issue for reasons best known to him alone and asked Senator Babar that he may raise the issue through a question in the Senate.

Senator Babar then changed the subject and raised the issue of protest demonstrations in Swat against harassment and humiliation of people at security checkposts.

He said that protest demonstration erupted when commuting public particularly women, children and old people underwent “torture” at the checkposts. However, he noted when some people protested, they were arrested and terrorism cases were registered against them.

He demanded that terrorism cases be immediately withdrawn and the concerns of citizens be addressed.

He alleged that self-confessed terrorist and killer – of the children of Army Public School – Ehsanullah Ehsan is enjoying “state hospitality” but the peaceful people of Swat are charged with terrorism.

Earlier during the question hour, opposition senators staged a token walkout from the House. They were also joined by the treasury senators belonging to PkMAP and independent Senator Mohsin Leghari, who also sits on the government benches. They agitated that their questions were not being taken as the minister for water resources was not present in Senate.

Majority of written questions had no reply from concerned ministries in the printed question-answer book and these were water-related, which compelled the senator to stage a walkout in protest.

To a question by Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, State Minister for Energy Jam Kamal told the House, in a written reply, that Pakistan and Iran had agreed in 2016 to resolve all outstanding issues regarding the proposed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. However, the approval of the competent authority had been sought to negotiate amendment in the sales and purchase agreement.

Replying to a question by Mashhadi, Law and Justice Minister Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk said that from January 2013 to March 2017, as many as 3,035 inquiries were authorized by the NAB, while 1,251 investigations regarding irregularities and corruption, etc, were authorized too in the four provinces and the federal capital.

Moreover, the top anti-graft body had filed 948 references and a total of Rs36.278 billion were recovered, whereas 582 cases of corruption were settled through plea bargain.

When asked by Syed Shibli Faraz about cases against politicians, businessmen and government officers in BPS-20 and above, the law minister said that the total number of cases against them as on January 16, 2018 stood at 930, of these 46 were against politicians, 103 against businessmen and 163 against government officers, whereas 616 cases are registered against others.

He explained that 2,090 inquiries, 322 investigations and 467 references have been decided, which brought the number to 2,879.

In response to a question by Jehanzeb Jamaldini, Javed Ali Shah said the annual average volume of water, which flows into the sea below Kotri Barrage, is about 29.02 million acre feet (MAF) for the post-Tarbela (1976 onward period).

In a written answer, the minister gave data of the period and noted that escapages below Kotri in 1976-77 were recorded at 64.05 MAF in Kharif and 5.03 MAF in Rabi, in 1988, 88.18 MAF in Kharif and 3.65 MAF in Rabi, whereas in 2016-17, it was recorded at 10.49 MAF in Kharif and 0.08 MAF in Rabi.

The Senate was informed that the government is taking all possible steps to ensure utmost transparency in the Hajj ballot. Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousuf said that Hajj pilgrims are selected through computerized ballot because a large number of Hajj applications are dealt with under the government scheme.

He said that about 375,000 Hajj applications have been received against Pakistan’s quota of 120,000 persons. He said that a quota of 10,000 has been reserved for applicants who have been remained unsuccessful continuously for the last three years or more. Another 10,000 quota, he noted, has also been reserved for people with age of 80 years and above.

The minister said that the Prime Minister had written to the government of Saudi Arabia for allocation of quota of pilgrims on the basis of fresh national census held in Pakistan.

To another question, he said that only those banks are allowed to receive Hajj applications, which operate Sharia accounts.