The National Assembly started its session at the Parliament House in Islamabad this evening with Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair.

The House offered fateha for the departed souls of officials of security forces and the law enforcement agencies, who embraced martyrdom in various incidents of terrorism.

It also prayed for the departed souls of civilians and other people, who died in different incidents and road accidents.

The National Assembly was informed today that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority worked out various initiatives to increase accessibility of the public to the internet.

Responding to a question during the Question Hour in the House today, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Nazeer Tarar said PTA has allowed six gigahertz spectrum band for unlicensed operation for Radio Local Area Network in Pakistan.

The Minister further said with unlocking at this band, Pakistan has become the 10th country in Asia Pacific to embrace six gigahertz for WIFI. He said currently, only sixty countries worldwide have unlocked six gigahertz for RLAN WIFI services.

Azam Nazeer Tarar said this development aims to facilitate deployment of next generation WIFI technologies across Pakistan, empowering business and individuals with high speed, low latency connectivity.  This initiative underscored Pakistan’s commitment to bridging the digital divide and ensuring nationwide access to advanced technologies.

The Minister said the PTA has also formulated the telecom infrastructure sharing framework for the growth and sustainability of the telecom sector in Pakistan.

Answering another question, Minister for Aviation Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the New Gwadar International Airport project is substantially completed and operationalization of the new airport is expected by the end of this year after formal handovers and trials.  He added the New General Aviation Aerodrome near Muridke is substantially completed and will be operational by the end of next month. It is anticipated that general aviation organizations and flying schools will be relocated to the new aerodrome within three to four months.

Several reports of various standing committees of the National Assembly were presented before the House. These include: “The State vs. Mubarak Ahmad Sani and another”, “The Establishment of Telecommunication Appellate Tribunal Bill, 2024, “The Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority Bill, 2024”, “The Apostille Bill, 2024”, “The Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024” and The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2024” reports.   

The House passed “The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2024.”

According to the statement of objects and reasons, the bill is aimed at amending Section 17(3) of the ICT Local Government Act, 2015 and words “People’s Representative Act, 1976” will be substituted with the “Elections Act, 2017.

The House adopted a motion electing Sajid Mehdi, Raja Qamar Ul Islam, Ms. Sofia Saeed Shah, Ms. Mahtab Akbar Rashdi and Ms. Shahida Begum as Members of the Board of Governors of National Book Foundation.

The National Assembly also adopted another motion, electing Nuzhat Sadiq, Dr. Nafisa Shah and Khawaja Izhar-Ul Hassan as Members of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. 

Responding to a calling attention notice, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said no significant complaint regarding the use of narcotics by students in universities, colleges and schools in Islamabad has been received.