PM lies to NA over plots for journalists | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

PM lies to NA over plots for journalists

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Division, whose minister is Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday lied to the National Assembly regarding allotment of plots to journalists.

Apparently, to vilify the journalists and their community the minister in charge (prime minister) of the Cabinet Division claimed to have allotted residential plots in sector I-15 of the federal capital to 42 journalists, several of whom have never been the recipient of these plots.

Some of the prominent journalists whose names were wrongly reflected in the list included Ansar Abbasi, Jawad Naeem Rana, Mughees Ashraf Baig, Dilshad Azeem and others. However, the fact of the matter is that none of these journalists accepted any of the plots as claimed by the Cabinet Division in its response to a question raised by PPP’s Jamshaid Dasti in the NA.

Inclusion of the name of Ansar Abbasi is surprising for the reason that he not only returned the plot allotted to him in Rawalpindi Journalists Colony by the Punjab government but also withdrew his right to get a residential plot in Islamabad under journalists quota and became a rare voice of his community to denounce the policy of making such allotments to influential communities including journalists, army officials, bureaucrats, judges and in some cases parliamentarians.

Bureau Chief Geo Jawad Rana is shocked to see his name in the list of plot getters. He said he had never been allotted a plot as claimed by PM Gilani’s division. Dilshad Azeem was offered a plot but he not only rejected it but also withdrew the money he had deposited for the purpose. Dilshad said the presentation of list in the NA was an attempt by the PM to take revenge from media for exposing his and his family’s corruption.

Mughees Ashraf Baig also said he has not been allotted any plot explaining that he was offered one but refused it. How the government made such a blunder by including names of senior journalists in the list who didn’t ever receive any plot is important. It remains to be seen now whether the opposition will move a privilege motion on the issue in the House to expose government lies. It will also be interesting to see whether or not the prime minister will be held accountable for presenting a wrong list in the House and what action will be taken against him for deceiving and befooling the honourable House.

Following is the complete list of 42 journalists about whom PM Gilani claimed in the National Assembly that they were allotted plots in sector I-15: Jalaludin, Ambrose Joseph, Sanaullah, Riaz Ahmad, Javed Shahzad, Mughees Ashraf Baig, Naveed Iqbal, Syed Zafar Hussain, M Suhail Rehman, Shahid Sabir, M Ashfaq, Hamid Habib, Khawaja Shafqat, M Irfan Dar, M Sajjad Khan, Nayyar Waheed, Amjad Hussain, Afzal Bajwa, Sajid Hussain, Khalid Mehmood, Tariq Mehmood, Maqsood Ali Shah, Ansar Ahmad Abbasi, Umer Farooq, Rauf Klasra, M Asghar, Syed Irfan Raza, Khaleeq Kiyani, Abdul Nasir, Tariq Usmani, Akhtar Tazeen, Dilshad Azeem, Javed Amjad Bhatti, Mazhar Iqbal, Mian M Munir Ahmad, Jawad Naeem Rana, Abid Rashid, Naeemullah Khan, M Sabir Shakir, Abu Bakar Mushtaq, Ismail Ashraf and Saleh Mughal.
Source: The News
Date:8/2/2011