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ISLAMABAD – The National Assembly on Friday was informed that Pakistan had not allowed any foreign fishing vessel in Pakistan’s exclusive economic zone.
“We have not allowed any foreign fishing vessel to fish in our zone in order to protect interests of our local fishermen,” said Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi, responding to question raised by an opposition MNA Qadir Patel, during the question-hour. PPP-P’s lawmaker had asked about violation in Pakistan territory by a Chinese vessel. Minister said the deep sea fishing policy had been announced after consultations with the stakeholders. The bottom trawling has been banned in Balochistan, as it damages the marine life and ecosystem, he said, responding to a question.
The chair in yesterday’s proceedings only took up question-hour as it adjourned the proceedings without giving floor to the opposition, who was interested in speaking on a point of order.
To a question about growth in auto sector, the Parliamentary Secretary for Industries and Production Aliya Hamza said that auto sector was witnessing an unprecedented growth.
“Twenty one new entrants have entered our auto market,” she said, mentioning that the cement export had increased 64 percent in last three years. The opposition senior lawmakers, during the question-hour, sought clarification about declaring the country self-reliant in food. “Billions of food items were imported, how can [Government] suppose itself self-reliant in food,” PML-N’s Khawaja Asif remarked. Parliamentary Secretary for National Food Security Ameer Sultan, responding to the question raised by opposition, said the government had launched programs to enhance local production of oil seeds. He said currently 2.75 billion dollars are being spent on the import of oil seeds. He said the execution of these programs will help us cut this import bill by 600 million dollars by 2024.
He said several endeavors are being made under the PSDP Pulses project to achieve self-sufficiency in lentils. At present, he said, lentil is cultivated on 3,000 hectares in Tank. Seed of high quality has been supplied in the area so that better yield and production may be fetched.
He said some areas in Balochistan have also been identified as provincial hubs for lentil production.