ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Thursday directed the Ministry of Defence to provide details of private builders using names linked to the armed forces following reports that a number of such builders are involved in huge financial scams.

The committee observed that companies which were involved in various scandals were giving a bad name to the armed forces.

“The committee wants to know whether these builders, like Bahria Town and Askari, are using the name of armed forces with the permission of the Ministry of Defence. And, if so, then under what legal authority,” member Rai Mansab Ali Khan, told Defence Secretary Lt-Gen Tariq Waseem Ghazi.

The PAC members were critical of the Bahria Town and were not satisfied with answers given by defence ministry officials. The defence secretary said he had no knowledge of the matter and would inform the committee after taking up the issue in his ministry.

The committee met at the Parliament House with MNA Malik Allah Yar Khan in the chair to discuss the audit report of the Ministry of Defence for 2000-01.

Maj (retd) Tanvir Hussain Syed, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, informed the committee that his minister and previous secretary had opposed private builders using the name of Bahria Town, but were unable to take any action against what he called the “mighty owner” of the housing scheme.

Member Qurban Ali Shah said several MNAs had been offered plots in the MNAs’ Enclave of Bahria Town in Rawalpindi and Lahore at subsidised rates.

“According to a letter of Bahria Town, the housing society has also developed special housing schemes for retired generals and judges at subsidised rates,” he observed.

The issue of Bahria Town was raised by Mr Syed during a discussion on an audit objection about commercial use of some residential property in the Wah Cantonment.

He said the PAC should not discuss petty issues but should focus on the “big fish’ who had got the Capital Development Authority land allotted in Margalla and Karakoram foothills first on lease and then on ownership basis.

The committee was informed that no naval berth had been given to the United States in Karachi for use. However, some airbases were on standby arrangements for use of allied forces in Pakistan. The US had been given this facility because Pakistan was a frontline state in the US-led war on terror, the committee was told.

Auditor-General of Pakistan Younis Khan told the committee that pensions of retired armed forces personnel had been shifted to the civil budget after foreign donors started objecting to what they said rising defence budget.