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Monday March 18, 2024

Attorney general fails to appear in Senate

Perks to ex-CJs

By our correspondents
March 05, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday could not hear the Attorney General on the perks and privileges given to the ex-chief justices of the Supreme Court (SC) as he was unable to appear in the House, citing his pressing engagements in the apex court.
The Upper House of Parliament, which was also to witness speeches of the departing senators, was prorogued earlier in view of likely promulgation of an ordinance on the local government polls late in the evening, according to parliamentary sources.
Senate Chairman, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, had summoned Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt to present the constitutional and legal position with regard to provision of perks and privileges to the former chief justices and the additional facility of 6000cc bulletproof vehicle to ex-CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as per the Islamabad High Court order.
Bokhari told the Senate that the attorney general had sent an application that he would not be able to appear in the House because of engagements in the Supreme Court. Law Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid, during the Question-Hour informed the House that the attorney general was busy with regards to hearing of the local government polls case.
He said the attorney general had sought relief from appearance in the House on Wednesday and urged the chair not to fix sitting for Thursday, for he (minister) will be busy in connection with the Senate polls in the Punjab as a candidate.
The government was asked in the Senate to share details of the agreement signed with Qatar on the import of LNG. PPP Senator Saeed Ghani raised the matter on a point of order and criticised the government for what he alleged keeping signing of agreements as a secret, cautioning the nation would suffer because of this approach.
The senator pointed out that the government would have to pay 272,000 dollars per day as fine if the LNG terminal built in Karachi was not used. He said the government wanted to supply LNG to IPPs but these companies were not ready for striking an agreement in this context. The same was the case with SSGL and other entities.
Ghani called on the government to share the details of the LNG agreement signed with Qatar. “The nation should know at what rate LNG is being imported and for how long it will be imported,” he asserted.
Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz rose to maintain that a lot of work had been completed with seriousness and there was no possibility of imposition of fine and no question arose that LNG would not be used.
Aziz said they would give a detailed reply, if a question was moved following the laid down procedure. Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Shahi Syed complained about what he alleged disrespect of Pakhtuns everywhere and charged that even under the pretext of checking ID cards, Pakthuns were being humiliated and the sanctity of privacy being compromised by the police.
He wanted to know was it their crime that Chechens, Uzbeks and Tajiks were brought to the tribal areas. He recalled how ex-president general Pervez Musharraf had called Taliban as strategic assets in a recent interview.
Another ANP Senator Muhammad Zahid Khan protested on not being given a reply to his question about the Islamabad Club. On this, the chair also contended that reply must be given to the query. He recalled having asked the concerned House committee to see why parliament was not given reply.
During the Question-Hour, in a written reply, the adviser on foreign affairs told the House that there were about 1,500 Pakistanis confined in different jails of the United Arab Emirates on various minor and major crimes such as illegal stay, theft, robbery, fraud, murder and drug-related crimes.
He said the Embassy of Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Consulate General of Pakistan, Dubai, had separate community welfare wings, which catered to the problems faced by the Pakistani community in the UAE.
To a question by Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, the adviser said that during 2010-2012, as many as 112 Pakistani prisoners were awarded various punishments, including death sentence.
He added that 11 Pakistani prisoners were awaiting capital punishment on drug trafficking charges and one on robbery.To a question by Senator Saifullah Magsi, the adviser noted that as per a list handed over by Indian authorities in July last year, there were 380 Pakistani prisoners (264 civil and 116 fishermen) detained in Indian jails.