Senate session: Requisition awaiting to be signed by senators: Mandviwalla

ISLAMABAD: Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla said that a requisition to summon the Senate session is awaiting to be signed by senators, a mandatory requirement as per law.

The session would discuss the treatment given to parliamentarians by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

While talking to Business Recorder at the Parliament House on Wednesday, he said that the draft of requisition had been awaiting for the signatures of the parliamentarians.

“Once the requisition was signed, the Senate session will be called with an agenda to discuss the NAB dealing in certain cases including me,” he said.

He further said that a resolution would also be adopted in the session with voting against the ongoing treatment of the NAB against the parliamentarians and others during investigations.

The passage of resolution would help him to take the matter on initial three committees of the Senate for a thorough probe.

These committees are the Senate Committee on Privilege, the Senate Committee on Human Rights, and the Senate Committee on Law and Justice.

Usually, the main committee preferred to constitute sub-committee for a detailed investigation, he said.

In the privilege committee, he said the ongoing NAB investigation against him as parliamentarian would be investigated by the members of the committee.

In Human Rights Committee, the cases of torture and death during the NAB custody would be investigated, and victims and their families being called in the committee.

In addition, the Law and Justice Committee would examine appointments, domiciles, transfers, and assets of the officials, he added.

He said all those who had struck a plea bargain with the NAB would also be called to the Senate session, and would be asked about the treatment meted out to them by the bureau.

Mandviwalla vowed to hold the anti-graft watchdog “accountable” for its actions and launch an unprecedented investigation against it.

He said the NAB had become a laughing stock and their “actions had lost credibility in the bureaucracy, judiciary, civil society, and even among members of the business community”.

The Senate deputy chairman alleged that the anti-graft watchdog used intimidation tactics, filed fake arrests, and committed brutalities in the name of justice.

Mandviwalla said that with the help of the government and the opposition, he would make efforts to introduce legislation to curb the powers of the anti-graft buster.

He observed that the conflict was no longer between him and the NAB, but between the anti-graft watchdog and the entire country, adding that there was a consensus across the political spectrum that the bureau be exposed.

The deputy chairman stressed that no one would be able to stop him from conducting an investigation, and that he would not fall prey to the NAB’s “intimidation tactics”.

“Unlike the probes carried out by the NAB, this investigation will not be conducted inside a closed room. The trial will be conducted in front of the media, and facts will be presented in front of everyone,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020