Institutions should work within constitutional ambit: senators

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate on Monday strongly condemned the dismissal of an elected government on October 12, 1999, and termed October 12 a black day. They emphasised that all institutions should work within the parameters set by the law and the Constitution.
They also called for the formulation of a national agenda that should take care of concerns of all the federating units so that the country moves on the path of progress and prosperity. They also emphasised to provide protection to parliament.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Lt-Gen (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi surprised many when he proposed in the Senate that the lawmakers should on oath declare in a joint sitting of parliament that they would not support any dictator in future.
He emphasised that it should be seen that the incumbent federal cabinet was full of those who remained part of the General Musharraf’s government.
Tirmizi went on to air a proposal that at the time of filing nomination papers, candidates must also declare they would not change loyalties.
Taking part in a discussion on a motion moved by Senator Usman Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), the senator from Hazara belt said that politicians needed to do retrospection, as “whenever a dictator took over and said ‘meray aziz hamwatano’ (my dear countrymen), they would push for becoming ministers, wearing Sherwanis.”
It was significant to note that none of PPP senators, took part in the debate on the existing political situation in Pakistan. However, Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, who is a leading PPP stalwart, said October 12, 1999 should be condemned in the strongest possible terms but he insisted what kind of Musharraf era was that one of ministers of that time confirmed a behind-the-curtain settlement between him and Indians on joint management of Kashmir. He noted that so much so it was also discussed between the two countries what would be distribution of departments and who would carry out joint management.
Rabbani noted that the person under whose rule all this was agreed upon was today living in Defence. Whereas if it was done by a civilian, he perhaps would have been lodged in the Kot Lakhpat jail like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to become second martyr.
Other senators including Azam Swati, Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel of PkMAP, PML-N’s Chaudhry Tanvir Khan, Nihal Hashmi and Mushahidullah Khan and Shahi Syed of Awami National Party were present on the occasion. PPP Senator Saeed Ghani also spoke but only on the irregularities during the Sunday’s by-elections in Lahore and Okara to the surprise of everyone and wondered if not stopped, where would this saga of flouting the election laws and violation of the code of conduct stop.
The legislators claimed that Pakistan had suffered massively during the era of Musharraf. They emphasised that all institutions should work within the parameters set by the law and the Constitution and called for across-the-board accountability by a constitutional body with Rangers or other institution having no role in it.
The lawmakers called for the formulation of a national agenda that should take care of concerns of all the federating units so that the country could move on the path of progress and prosperity.
Mushahid Ullah alleged that whenever, a military takeover was made, Pakistan suffered massively and said October 12 takeover by Musharraf was also a conspiracy. He noted the army was being praised every year for it was doing its duty assigned to it. He passed remarks against the judges who had taken oath afresh during the Musharraf rule, which were expunged by the chair.
Responding to Saeed Ghani’s observations on electoral irregularities, he said that the PPP must first look into the fact why its candidate bagged only 800 votes. He wished revival of the PPP but said it was possible only if it subjected itself to accountability and apologise to the nation for doing nothing in its five-year term.
He said the PTI chief Imran’s myth of 53,000 fake votes stood shattered after the defeat of his candidate in NA-122.
The Senate chairman took a strong exception to the non-presence of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf to reply to questions raised by senators during a debate on the performance of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in providing assistance to the pilgrims after the recent Mina stampede. “Where is your minister who has already returned from Saudi Arabia? Should I ask the Senate Secretariat to issue a notice that he has gone missing, who was supposed to brief the House on the tragedy after I wrote a letter to him. He is not coming to the House, does he not understand what his responsibility is?” retorted the chair on again seeing the Minister of State Pir Ameenul Hasnat, rising to respond to the queries raised by senators.
He asked the minister to convey his directive to the federal minister to come to the Senate on Tuesday with a complete report on the tragic incident, otherwise, strictures would be passed against him.
Aminul Hasnat told the House that in all 97 Pakistanis had lost their lives in the Mina tragedy while 56 had been verified, whereas those confirmed by their relatives were 41: Two injured were presently in a hospital and 20 pilgrims still missing.
The minister said the Foreign Office was in contact with the Saudi government for sending to Saudi Arabia the family members and heirs of those who had embraced martyrdom in the Mina tragedy. He said a special flight would be sent to the Saudi Arabia as soon as a green signal was received from Saudi Arabia.
To a motion moved by Sehar Kamran of PPP, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Aftab Ahmed Sheikh said the National Counter-terrorism Authority would be activated on warfooting in view of prevailing security situation in the country after the related summary was approved by the prime minister. He conceded that so far against 203 posts, only 48 were working in the NACTA.
Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif informed the House that the Nepra report for the last financial year on the efficiency of his ministry and incorrect billing was being blown out of proportion, which needed to be portrayed correctly by the media.
Giving a statement in the Senate in response to a discussion held on an adjournment motion by Shahi Syed, the minister said that Nepra, like Ogra as a regulator, was supposed to take care of the private energy sector, but it was regulating the state.
The minister said that among other things, Nepra should conduct the heat rate audit of the private power producers, as they would purchase oil, save out it and sell the remaining quantity in the market. He asked the authority to get the stays obtained by the power companies vacated.
He pointed out instead of benefiting the consumers by pocketing profit up to 60 percent, some of these had become robber barons. “I will ask the Nepra to also hold these companies accountable side by side with the government. Please don’t give them a free licence,” he said.
The minister revealed that only 1.04 percent metres were faulty but it was not correctly portrayed in the media.
Khawaja Asif said the government was trying to shift oil-based plants to coal and LNG but the strong oil import mafia was creating obstacles. He pointed out that Nepra had also done faulty ranking of Discos as efficient plants had been placed lower than those where theft was higher and recoveries were lesser. He referred to the Quetta Electric Supply Company on this count.
He noted that the power circular debt had been capped in October last and with regards to allocation of subsidy for the power sector fiscal burden had been reduced, besides increasing the fuel stock capacity three times.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak claimed that the minister had not responded to the five difficult questions raised in the House, quoting the Nepra report, which would now be raised again in the concerned standing committee meeting. He noted that the government had done nothing to arrest power theft, which had gone up from 23 percent to 24 percent this year.
The House adopted a resolution moved by Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Sirajul Haq. It says: “The House recommends that the federal government should take steps to increase pension of the retired employees according to the increase in prices of daily food-stuff. “