ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Friday walked out of the Senate in protest for not being consulted before placement of a motion on the formation of a committee to finalise the Terms of Reference (ToRs) to probe the Panama Leaks.
The Senate echoed with unexpected and unfamiliar comments by Rabbani, who dubbed it a ‘marginalised House’ and asserted “We shall not give it (fight for its due status) up outside and inside parliament”.
Rabbani walked out of the House after Minister for Law Zahid Hamid moved a motion for which the Senate chairman had not been consulted prior to the session.
Before leaving the House, Rabbani said in the light of the Al Jihad Trust case, before taking up a motion regarding corruption in the Senate, the National Assembly (NA) should have consulted the Senate over the eight bills that the Senate had passed and sent to the lower house of parliament, which it failed to place even on the orders of the day.
Rabbani had informed NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq about this on Thursday, who, according to the chairman, was also unaware of the Senate’s decision to move a motion without consultation.
“The sad part was that the National Assembly Secretariat did not even deem it fit to inform the speaker that eight bills had been passed by the Senate and are pending in his secretariat. These are the disadvantages the Senate is working with but we will not give up the fight, we will continue the fight whether it is within parliament or outside,” Rabbani asserted.
PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi conducted the House business in the absence of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Ghafoor Haideri. He later read out the presidential prorogation order about the 248th session.
According to the motion, the parliamentary committee is required to consider options for inquiry into issues raised by the Panama Papers. These include offshore companies, transfer of funds from Pakistan by originating from corruption, commission or kickbacks and written-off bank loans.
The House unanimously approved a motion calling for the formation of a 12-member parliamentary panel to draft the terms of reference (ToRs) to probe the Panama Papers scam, as Rabbani exited from the House in protest.
The government appeared in a quandary on account of dealing with the business listed on the orders of the day and even during the question hour, Rabbani expressed his displeasure over the absence of ministers concerned.
Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar was present, but he did not give reply to questions and on his behalf, Law Minister Zahid Hamid did.
The proceedings remained suspended for about 15 minutes because of the non-availability of Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal. Not only the opposition senators, but the ruling coalition allies including JUI-Fazl and PkMAP and senators belonging to Fata also staged token walk-out from the Senate to protest the minister’s absence.
However, the Senate failed to take up and adopt the Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment Bill, 2016) Bill, for the government sought its deferring on not being able to muster up the requisite number of members in the House for this purpose.
This development leaves a question mark on whether or not the Parliament will adopt it before June 10, already passed by the National Assembly regarding the changing the criteria for appointment of the chief election commissioner and members of the ECP.
The term of the incumbent members ends on June 10 while the budget is to be presented in the Parliament in the first week of June, followed by a debate and then its adoption. It is to be seen if the government will push for a short session prior to that to do the needful, otherwise the electoral body will become dysfunctional.
Meanwhile, in a significant development, the Senate unanimously passed the bill to protect rights and provision of facilities to un-attended orphans and unknown parentage children.
The Un-Attended Orphans (Rehabilitation and Welfare) Bill, 213, was referred to the House Business Advisory Committee for addressing the issue of parentage. The panel is headed by the Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani and has 21 members, including Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shiekh Aftab Ahmad.
Rabbani greeted Senator Khawaja and the committee for their hard work with regards to the proposed legislation, which included public hearing. He called the adoption of the bill a very important task carried out by the Senate, as now through this legislation, un-attended orphans would be identified.
He was hopeful that Law Minister Zahid Hamid, as minister-incharge would ensure its passage from the National Assembly.
PPP’s Karim Ahmad Khawaja had moved the bill, which had been cleared by the House committee already and now after its adoption by the Senate, it will be transmitted to the National Assembly for consideration and possible passage to become a law after being signed by the President.
Under the proposed legislation, the government would maintain a record of all un-attended orphans: the government will be responsible to provide free of cost education to every such child, provide books, writing material, clothes, uniforms and other relevant articles free of cost.
Likewise, the government will provide free of cost healthcare facilities to every such child and take custody of every un-attended orphan identified by the government in such a manner may be prescribed: send every identified un-attended orphan to the child abode.
Every un-attended orphan will be registered in accordance with the provisions of the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2000. For the purpose of registration, every child abode established under this law or prior to this, every orphanage established in the private sector will be registered with the Nadra.
In the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, it is said that after proper legislation and providing facilities to such children, society can succeed to make them respectable and useful citizens.