Senate amends rule to ensure sanctity of in-camera briefings

After a dozens of senators leaked sensitive briefing by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the Senate on Thursday amended its rule, putting in place a tougher rule, under which a senator can be barred from attending 30 consecutive sittings of the House in case she or he is found making of sensitive information public. The senators belonging to both treasury and opposition divulged sensitive information to the media soon after an in-camera briefing to Senate last month. Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani then referred the matter to house business advisory committee for consideration.
The committee that comprised Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan and parliamentary leaders of all political parties in the Senate, unanimously agreed to make amendments in Senate rules. A motion jointly moved by leaders of the house and opposition was moved by Raja Zafarul Haq, which was unanimously adopted by the House.
The amendment to rule 255A states that 'a member or any person specifically participating in any in-camera proceeding, divulges or discloses any information regarding any part of the proceedings, comments, speeches or opinion expressed, if proved guilty, may be suspended for a term not exceeding thirty consecutive sittings of the house," reads the amendment.
It stated that the member of any other person found involved in leaking out the sensitive information to the media, will be given adequate opportunity to appear before the house business advisory committee to explain the disclosures attributed to him. Speaking on the occasion, Aitzaz Ahsan said that suspension from 30 consecutive sittings is too severe punishment for any member, but House has no option but to take action in order to put a full stop to the leakage of information of in-camera briefings which has become a routine for quite long.
"In the UK, even naming a member is too big a punishment. And for me too, naming is a big punishment. It has nothing to do with recent briefing of COAS as members had been divulging sensitive briefing to media, so a tougher rule was needed," he added.
The lawmakers who disseminated the details of in-camera briefing remained tightlipped while other senators lauded the amendment, and some even went to the extent in saying that a person found involved in it should also tender an apology, besides facing suspension.
Senator Hasil Khan Bizenjo of National Party, who is also federal minister for ports and shipping, tendered an apology on the floor of the House. "My conscience is clear as I did not divulge the sensitive briefing deals, but even then I apologize for irresponsible attitude of my colleagues for leaking out the classified information," he added. Senator Colonel Syed Tahir Mashhadi (retd) of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lauded the amendment, saying a 'lawmaker should not become a lawbreaker as he is representative of thousands of people.'
Senate Chairman Rabbani reiterated that amendment has nothing to do with 'openness and transparency' as it is being done just to make the lawmakers bound that divulging in-camera briefings pertaining to national security and other policy matters are not meant to be disseminated to media.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed of PML-Q seemed a bit annoyed as he took the plea that leakage of COAS briefing which discussed important issues, helped in bridging the gap between civil and military leadership. This prompted the chairman Senate to state that it is not the COAS-briefing specific amendment rather it is meant to put an end to leakage of in-camera briefings information which had become a routine matter.
Earlier, Senator Mukhtar Dhamra, through a calling attention notice drew government's attention towards what he said illegal promotions in National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). According to him, the government gave promotions to blue-eyed officers by setting aside the laid down rules for promotion which deprived thousands of genuine candidates of rights. "Rules were changed overnight to favor the blue-eyed and promotions were given to junior officers and the rules under which the officers are given promotions were completely ignored," he added.
However, State Minister for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal failed to give a satisfactory answer to the claims made by PPP senator, forcing the chairman Senate to refer the matter to Senate Standing Committee on Finance to investigate the matter and report back to House within a month. The House also passed 'The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The bill was moved by the Law and Justice Minister Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk.
State Minister for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal laid annual report of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan for 2015-16 before Senate, as required under sub-section (6) of Section 25 of SECP Act, 1997.