Islamabad the 26th February, 2020: 9th meeting of the Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs was held in Committee Room No. 7 (4th Floor) Parliament House, Islamabad at 2:30 pm under the Chairmanship of Mir Amer Ali Khan Magsi, MNA. The agenda of the meeting is circulated vide Notice No. F.8 (1)/2019-Com-I Vol-II dated 18th February,2020.

2.         The Committee appreciated the efforts of the Armed Forces especially the Air Force in thwarting the unwarranted and uncalled aggression by the Indian Air Force on 27th February, 2019. The Committee felicitated the nation and the forces on this day. The Committee also condemned in the strongest words the killing of Muslims in India in the past couple of days, the Committee also asked the International Community to take notice of these killings. Dua was offered for the Muslims killed in India and the deceased of the 16th February, 2020 incident of lacked gas in Karachi.  

3.         The Bills “The Port Qasim Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019” and “The Gawadar Port Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019”, were deferred for the next meeting.

4.         On the incident of leaked gas on 16th February, 2020 in the vicinity of Karachi Port Trust (KPT), the Minister Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, MNA told the Committee that reports from various sources have been received on the suspicious deaths of ten people in the surrounding areas of KPT, and it indicates that it must have been the cause of a leaked gas happened due to a chemical reaction in an empty tanker. The deaths could not have been attributed to the soya-been shipment. The Members of the Committee wanted to have a judicial inquiry into this matter. The Chairman Standing Committee opined that speculation should not be done and should wait for the final report by the Naval Biological Chemical Department’s report on this matter.

5.         The Committee scrutinized the budgetary proposals relating to Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs for the financial year 2020-21 and recommended it to be approved.   

6.         The meeting was attended by Syed Ali Haider Zaidi Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs and MNAs, Mr. Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon,  Mr. Faheem Khan,  Mr. Saif Ur Rehman, Mr. Abdul Shakoor Shad, Mir Khan Muhmmad Jamali, Mr.Jamil Ahmed Khan, Mr. Lal Chand, Mr. Usama Qadri, Mr. Azhar Qayyum Nahra, Mr. Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh,  Ch. Muhammad Shahbaz Babar, Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel, Mr. Kamal Uddin,  Begum Tahira Bukhari, Mr. Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das Mr. Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Jam Abdul Karim Bijar, Mover Ms. Fauzia Bheram, besides Secretary and other senior officers of the Ministry.