The National Assembly was informed today (Wednesday) a proactive approach is being pursued by the government to sign more agreements with countries in the European Union for export of skilled manpower.
Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resources Development Chaudhary Salik Hussain told the house that about 1.3 million people went abroad for employment over the last three years. He said we are focusing on the skill development of the youth.
The House today passed “The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (Implementation) Bill, 2024.” Besides, “The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2025”, “The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2025” and “The Digital Nation (Amendment) Bill, 2024” were introduced in the House.
Speaking about the salient features of “The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2025”, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar told the House that it was the responsibility of the government to bring such legislation that makes the justice system simple and transparent. He said a common complaint is that the plaintiff also suffers until the judgment of the case. He said in local courts conviction rate is very low and the government wanted to improve it. He said 108 Amendments were being introduced in the Criminal Code. Law Minister said that courts were being bound to make the judgment of the case within one year and if the trial does ends in one year, if it goes beyond that, the High Court will take action on it. Law Minister demanded of the House that this bill should be sent to the concerned standing committee and later NA Speaker referred the bill to the relevant standing committee.
Meanwhile, the government said polio cases were on the decline due to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's special focus to completely eradicate this virus from the country.
This was stated by Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Service Nelson Azeem, while responding to a calling attention notice in the National Assembly today. He said several awareness campaigns and anti-polio drives were launched last year. He added that no polio case has been reported so far since the inception of the current year.
Parliamentary Secretary Dr Darshan told the house that a sewerage treatment plant has been proposed in the Federal Capital to collect and treat wastewater before it enters Rawal Lake. He said the unplanned development along the banks of Korang River is contributing to the pollution of Rawal Dam. He said wetlands have been constructed to reduce contamination. He said that before the water is supplied to Rawalpindi, it undergoes treatment at the water filtration plant being managed by Small Dam Organization under the Irrigation Department.
Responding to another calling attention notice, Parliamentary Secretary for Energy Division Aamir Talal Khan said seventy percent of total 2,100 feeders of K-Electric are loadshedding free.
He said 282 of mixed 295 feeders of K-Electric, comprising domestic and commercial consumers, are loadshedding free. He said only thirty percent feeders in challenging areas with higher line losses and theft are facing loadshedding. The Parliamentary Secretary for Energy further informed the House that loadshedding is carried out in all power distribution companies on the basis of line losses and recovery. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also attended today's proceedings of the House. The House will now meet again tomorrow at 2 p.m.