Energy minister's absence irks senate panel.

A parliamentary panel has expressed displeasure at the absence of Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir from a briefing on illegal appointments in the power-sector entities.

It was noted that the minister had failed to turn up in any of the meetings of the upper house committee in the past eight months, which annoyed its members. In Tuesday's meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Power, its members decided to approach the Senate chairman to express their reservations about what they said was the lethargic attitude of the energy minister.

Senator Saifullah Abro chaired the Senate committee's meeting. The energy minister skipped the huddle where he had...