ISLAMABAD  -    The National Assembly on Friday witnessed a verbal clash between the lawmakers of MQM-P and PPP-P as the former blamed for containing large amount of dirt in wheat stock in Sindh province.

The MNAs from MQM-P, drawing attention of the house on a call-attention notice, claimed that wheat bags contained by PASSCO have mud in it.

They were of the view that a large amount of mud was mixed in the wheat stock worth Rs2.5 billion. “This is a big scam, as size of the bag is also small,” accused the MQM-P MNAs, inviting counter attack from the PPP-P’s lawmakers.

The PPP-P’s MNAs said that the matter need to be raised at a proper forum as National Assembly was not the appropriate forum to raise this matter.

The MQM-P, in response to the PPP-P, said that PPP-P MNAs should not interfere in the matter as they were asking reply from the federal government on this ‘scam’. MNAs from both sides stood on their seats to grab the floor apparently to pass comments against each other.

The chair, avoiding tense atmosphere, gave the floor to parliamentary secretary to satisfy the MQM-P MNAs.

Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzd Mehboob Sultan said that there was no harm in making parliamentary committee to probe this matter.

“The proposed committee should also submit report in the committee after ascertaining the real reasons behind it,” said the minister.

He, however, admitted the subject under discussion had been devolved to the provinces.

Syed Khursheed Shah said that this matter should be raised in Council of Common Interests (CCI). “Adulterers and thieves should be dealt with iron hands,” he said.

Another PPP’s MNA said this matter should not be discussed in the National Assembly. “It is a provincial matter. How can a parliamentary leader asked to form parliamentary body,” he said terming it a conspiracy to malign Sindh government.

The MQM member including Aminul Haq, Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan and others came down hard on provincial government of Sindh for purchasing poor quality of wheat. MQM-P’s Aminul Haq said that the government should make immediate steps to probe the scam.

Another MQM member said that bags of wheat worth Rs2.5 billion being brought for storage were mixed with mud while size of bags was also small.

About the matter regarding non-issuance of admission to the children and shortage of schools in Islamabad, Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said federal government schools will be upgraded and transformed into modern schools. “In order to provide better education facilities to the students and ensure maximum admissions the schools will be upgraded,” he said, mentioning that nearly 8000 children have been enrolled in schools of urban areas and 24,000 admissions were allowed in institutions of rural areas this year.

“A large number of parents are interested to get admission of their children in model colleges which are insufficient,” he said mentioning that there were 400 government schools other than model colleges in Islamabad.

Earlier, the female lawmakers from religio-political party (JUI-F) asked the government to resolve the issue of Islamabadites about getting admissions of their children in government schools.

The house witnessed very thin presence from both sides of the aisle throughout the proceedings. The front two benches of opposition and government side remained empty.