The joint opposition in the Senate staged a walkout from the House in protest against absence of Prime Minister Imran Khan to respond to a calling attention notice about his statement that "terrorists had in the past misused Pakistani territory to undertake attacks against Iran."
The calling attention notice was moved by Kabir Shahi, a Baloch senator who drew the attention of the foreign minister towards the prime minister's statement in which he had said that Pakistani soil was used against Iran in past for terror attacks.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was supposed to be present in the House to respond to the calling attention notice, did not turn up. The absence of the minister agitated the opposition MPs.
However, the former Chairman Senate Raza Raza Rabbani went a step ahead and citing rules of business, said that the prime minister should have been in the House to respond to the notice as his statement is quite sensitive.
Rabbani further stated that the prime minister has to come to the House under the rules, but he seems not ready to explain neither his statement nor the National Action Plan (NAP) before the Parliament, turning the house into a "Rajwara."
This infuriated Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani who said that the rules are clear that any minister can respond to the questions asked by the members, and if Rabbani wants to abolish the rules, he should bring in an amendment.
Senator Shahi said that the prime minister had promised that he would come to the Senate but that glorious day never came despite passage of nine months.
Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz said that Rabbani himself used to run the House like a 'military academy', and never allowed anyone to speak on the a point of order unless the agenda of the day was exhausted.
"But that very chairman along with three-four members, not all, has made it routine that they should stage a walkout under one pretext or another, which is not acceptable," he lamented.
Sanjrani said that since the zero hour has started from 2014, not a single prime minister ever bothered to come to the House to respond to MPs' queries, adding he has no executive powers to summon the prime minister to be present in the house to personally respond to points raised by members.
Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F said that the prime minister and the foreign minister should explain the statements about Pakistani soil being used for terror attacks against Iran.
Bill: The Senate passed 'The Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019' to amend the Election Act 2017 in haste after the opposition staged a walkout. But when the count was made moments after the bill sailed through the House, there were only 23 members which forced the chair to adjourn the House.
Speaking on the bill, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Sawati said that the bill is about an insertion of article 2-A in the Act which National Assembly had already passed unanimously.
He said the new insertion deals with the issue of delimitation of the constituencies, adding the elections are going to be held in 16 constituencies of erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata) in the coming days and Election Commission of Pakistan will have to work a lot in this regard.
Speaking on a point of public importance about terrorists attack on police outside Data Darbar (shrine) Lahore, Sherry Rehman said that terrorism has been escalating in Ramazan but opposition parties have neither been taken into confidence regarding implementation of NAP, nor has the prime minister issued any statement in this regard.
She said that it took nine months to form National Security Committee. She demanded that the prime minister should be pressed to attend the Senate, saying, "Why does he [the PM] not visit the Senate and consistently remains absent from the Senate despite mammoth challenges like inflation, poverty and terrorism."
She said that the government has failed to steer the country forward even though it repeatedly assured that everything is fine and rosy. "It is failing to grasp that the debt-laden country is sinking into an economic turmoil with each passing day. Bread and pulses have become an unaffordable luxury while parents are unable to send children to school due expensive conveyance costs after the gas and petrol price hikes," she added.
"Moreover, we hear that the FBR has received $400 million from the World Bank to bring tax reforms to raise tax compliance which can take Pakistan's revenue potential to 26 percent of GDP but what is happening on ground? Instead of bringing the elite into the tax net, amnesty schemes are being introduced to whiten black money and cater to friends' lobbies," she added.
She said that for eight months, the government kept dithering over taking a decision regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and now the conditionalities have become more stringent, adding simultaneously, Pakistan's future and governance has been "auctioned off" after appointing parachute officials from international agencies which is unprecedented for this country.
"These officials will now be involved in all the decisions from budget-making and commodity prices to interest rates and debts. Clearly, the government's new master is IMF," she added.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of JI moved a privilege motion against a colonel of Fortier Constabulary (FC) for stopping him from going to district Orazkai to address a political rally after getting permission from the local administration.
He said that he was going to Orakzai district but a day before the rally, an FC colonel, without citing any reason, told him on telephone that he could not hold a rally.
"If this remains the attitude of law enforcement agencies, people would be forced to resort to take extreme steps like a woman from the agency did by killing a soldier after he tried to enter her home," he warned.
The chairman Senate asked the JI senator to come to his chamber so that he can find a solution to the controversy.
About withdrawal of security from JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the minister for parliamentary affairs said that the matter is being looked into by the interior minister as it is the responsibility of the state to provide security to the political leaders.
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