The Upper House of the Parliament Thursday passed a unanimous resolution to pay tribute to late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi while expressing deep sorrow and shock over his demise. The related motion was moved by opposition's Mushtaq Ahmed from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) during the Senate's session presided over by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.
Speaking on the motion, Leader of the Opposition in Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq paid homage to the Egypt's deceased former president who had died of heart attack in his cage on June 17 during the proceedings of a court trial on the charges of espionage against him. Morsi remained the president of Egypt for a year and was ousted by the country's military in 2013.
"We strongly condemn the manner in which such a popular leader was kept in the jail," the leader of the opposition said. "The western forces were behind the Arab Spring that led to change of power in different Arab countries. Contrary to the expectations of western powers, Egypt saw the elevation of a political party with Islamist outlook," he remarked.
"This was a nightmare for the Western powers seeing a popular Islamist politician in the form of Morsi in power. They withdrew their support of his government and Morsi was ousted from power by military on flimsy charges and was passed through farce trial. The people of Egypt make a wonderful nation. Out of my personal experience I can say that they deeply love Pakistan and its people," he said.
Meanwhile, after two days of chaos, the Senate finally had a smooth sailing in terms of House business after an understanding was reached, a day earlier, between the treasury benches and JUI-F senator Atta Ur Rehman that allowed him to complete his speech in the Senate.
Earlier on Tuesday, Atta, during his speech in the Senate, had criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for his speech televised on June 5 midnight and alleged that the Premier disrespected the Sahaba(RA) (Companions of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in the said speech. He called the PM 'jahil' (illiterate) saying that he has no knowledge of the religion. This had infuriated the senators from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) who took on Atta and the session was adjourned amidst furore.
On Wednesday, the session plunged into chaos again when Atta kept insisting that he be allowed to speak while the treasury benches opposed this, asking the chairman Senate not to allow Atta to speak.
On Thursday, as part of the understanding with treasury senators, Atta, although, criticised the PM yet he avoided naming him. Sharing his views, Balochistan Awami Party's (BAP) Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar from treasury benches admitted that the selection of words in Prime Minister Imran Khan's June 5 speech was not appropriate. This, however, does not mean that the PM attempted to disrespect Sahaba, he said. "The PM or no Muslim cannot even think of remembering Shaba (RA) in a disrespectful way," he added.
Kakar said the federal government is being criticised for its financial negotiations with IMF (International Monetary Fund) while the opposition parties overlook the fact that their previous governments excessively relied on the IMF. He said there is no civil-military divide and the people of Pakistan hold the Armed Forces in high esteem for their sacrifices for the country.
Former Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) termed the federal budget as anti-poor. "This is the worst and unprecedented example of an IMF budget," he said.
Rabbani also criticised the formation of National Development Council (NDC) by PM Imran Khan, saying this move would drag the Armed Forces into needless controversies. "The image of our Armed Forces as being non-controversial and non-partisan would come into question when they would be related to a political party with the formation of this co-called NDC. In the presence of NEC (National Economic Council) there is absolutely no need for anything like NDC,' he stated and urged the chair to review the notification on the formation of NDC.
The former chairman Senate questioned why State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar, who is not finance minister, presented the budget when the PM is admittedly the finance minister in the absence of a regular finance minister. Rabbani also criticised certain amendments proposed in the Customs Act 1969 in the new federal budget, saying that these proposed amendments aimed to shift focus from collective decision making to individuals.
Ayub Afridi from the ruling PTI contradicted the views of opposition's Usman Kakar that the federal government made no significant allocations for erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. Afridi said Rs 152 have been allocated for erstwhile FATA and nearly Rs 50 billion for Balochistan.
The Senate will meet again today (Friday) at 10:30am.
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