Pakistan, 7 muslim countries condemn Israel over G…

Islamabad: The Pakistan Climate Change Authority has been called back before a Senate committee only days after Chairperson Sherry Rehman strongly questioned why a new authority was operating alongside the Climate Change Ministry, asked what new work it was actually doing and raised concerns over staff costs, duplication and the use of public money. The fresh meeting will again focus almost entirely on the authority, its work, projects, programmes and progress. The quick return of the issue to the committee has increased pressure on the authority to clearly explain why it exists and what results it has produced that the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination could not already deliver. At the previous meeting, Sherry Rehman repeatedly asked officials what work the authority was doing that the ministry was not already responsible for. She questioned whether the government had effectively created a parallel structure carrying out the same work on climate mitigation, adaptation, coordination and policy implementation. Rehman said the presentation before the committee did not show a clear new role for the authority. She also questioned why another institution was being created at a time when the ministry itself was facing shrinking development budgets. One of the strongest moments came when the committee discussed the authority’s staffing and expenditure. Rehman referred to a sanctioned strength of 24 positions and said employee related expenditure had already reached around Rs 80 million according to the presentation placed before the committee. She questioned why these costs were being incurred when she could not see a clear difference between the work of the authority and the ministry. She warned officials not to treat the meeting as a routine presentation exercise and demanded direct answers about public spending and actual results. Rehman also questioned whether creating the authority had brought new climate experts into government. Members asked whether the purpose was to recruit technocrats who could not otherwise be brought into the ministry. However, Rehman said the presentation appeared to show many of the same officials who had already worked inside government departments. She described the situation as a reshuffling of bureaucracy rather than the creation of a new technical institution. She said fragmentation was already a major government problem, with different organisations working separately on connected climate and disaster issues. According to her argument, creating another body without a clearly different mandate could increase costs while making responsibility more confusing. Rehman also questioned why the authority had been activated years after the law creating it first appeared. She said the law allowed the authority to exist but argued that this did not necessarily mean the government was forced to operationalise it. She said earlier governments had discussed removing such overlapping structures instead. During the exchange, she said she had opposed operationalising the authority while serving as minister because she feared it would create duplication. She told the committee that the result now appeared close to what she had warned about: officials were moving between the ministry and the authority instead of creating a completely new technical team. The authority defended its role. Dr Muhammad Rafiq told the committee that the authority was originally designed to provide technical support to the ministry. He acknowledged that more explanation was needed regarding what the authority was delivering against its original responsibilities. He suggested that the ministry and authority should be given an opportunity to return with a clearer presentation explaining what results they expected to achieve and what the authority could do that the ministry could not. The committee was told that the authority was still incomplete. Officials said a permanent chairperson was still being appointed and that only three members were working at the authority with a limited number of staff against the total positions planned. The authority also presented one of its strongest arguments in defence of its performance. An authority member told the committee that it had become Pakistan’s first public sector organisation to qualify as a delivery partner with the Green Climate Fund through the relevant mechanism. The official said this had been achieved by only three members and without technical assistance. He argued that this status could help the authority develop technical proposals and bring more climate finance into Pakistan. Rehman was not convinced that this achievement alone justified a separate authority. She argued that Green Climate Fund financing had already been coming to Pakistan through government structures and questioned why a completely new authority was needed when a climate finance office could operate within the ministry. She again asked why project development and technical hiring could not be handled directly by the ministry. Her central question remained the same throughout the discussion: what exactly could the new authority do that the ministry could not already do? The ministry told the committee that it had a supervisory and controlling role over the authority and that the authority’s budget passed through the ministry. However, Rehman continued to question how effective that control was if the authority could hire staff and exercise statutory powers separately. She asked officials to explain how rotating officials into a separate authority would make climate work more efficient when the ministry itself was losing development resources. Professor Dr Zahoor Ahmed Bazai, who identified himself as an unpaid member nominated to the authority and as a climate change academic, defended the institution. He told the committee that the authority was included in the climate law and that members had been nominated through the formal process. He argued that the authority was intended to provide expertise and serve an advisory role. Rehman said her criticism was not directed personally at individual members. She said the bigger problem was duplication between institutions and the growing number of attached bodies dealing with similar climate matters. The committee chairperson was also critical of the presentation the authority gave. Rehman said the presentation was not strong enough to be used by Pakistan at an international climate forum and described it as outdated in style. She said that if the authority wanted to demonstrate its value and

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari has rejected allegations of electoral rigging raised by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) following the first phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections. Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Bukhari said the people of Kashmir had made their decision through their votes. She claimed that voters had preferred the performance of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. Bukhari said the election results reflected the choice of the people. She dismissed the PPP’s allegations and defended the performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The provincial minister also criticised PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. She said political pressure appeared to be increasing within a particular party. She further claimed that Bilawal had attempted to imitate another political leader during his election speech. Bukhari also criticised the PPP’s performance in Sindh. She said the party often used the name of Raiwind to target the PML-N and its leadership. She challenged the PPP to present its performance record from the past 18 years. She also questioned the condition of Karachi, Sindh’s largest city. Bukhari said voters should compare the performance of Punjab under Maryam Nawaz with the situation in Sindh under the PPP. “Look at Maryam’s Punjab and Bilawal’s Sindh,” she said while comparing the two provinces. The minister argued that a government unable to improve roads in its own areas could not claim that it would transform roads in Kashmir. She also highlighted differences in public services between Punjab and Sindh. Bukhari said Punjab had introduced air ambulance services to provide emergency medical assistance. She claimed that Sindh, by comparison, had introduced a bicycle ambulance service. She used the comparison to criticise the PPP’s governance record and defend the PML-N’s performance in Punjab. Bukhari also discussed the education initiatives introduced by the Punjab government. She said Maryam Nawaz believed that every child should have access to educational opportunities. According to Bukhari, students should be able to receive laptops and scholarships regardless of their background. She said such programmes were aimed at supporting young people and helping them continue their education. The minister contrasted these initiatives with the situation in Sindh. She claimed that students in the province were protesting to demand better educational facilities and opportunities. Bukhari’s remarks came after the PPP questioned the credibility of the first phase of the AJK elections and alleged irregularities. The first phase covered 13 constituencies in the Mirpur division. The PML-N emerged as the leading party, winning nine seats. The PPP secured four seats. The election results have triggered a political dispute between the two parties. The PML-N has defended its victory and rejected claims that the results were manipulated. Bukhari’s latest comments further intensified the political exchange. She presented the results as an endorsement of the PML-N’s performance and Maryam Nawaz’s governance model. The remaining phases of the AJK elections are expected to keep the political competition intense. Both parties are likely to continue highlighting their respective performance records as campaigning moves forward.