PPP, ANP stage token walkout
ISLAMABAD: Senators belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) on Wednesday staged a token walkout from the Senate over the ongoing “tug of war” between Sindh and the federal government over the powers of Rangers.
The PPP senators said that the Centre’s rejection of Sindh’s summary and giving full powers to the Rangers for two months was a blow to the concept of provincial autonomy.
Raising the issue, PPP Senator Saeed Ghani charged that a misunderstanding was being spread that the provincial government had curtailed the powers of the Rangers, clarifying it was not true as in fact the force had been restrained from going beyond its mandated powers. He said the Rangers had crossed the limit of their powers. “It is not a correct impression that the PPP is against the Rangers,” he made it clear.
Farhatullah Babar of the PPP charged that the measures taken by the Ministry of Interior were an attack on the Sindh government and alleged the Centre had meddled in the affairs of the province. He also said the provincial government had not limited the powers of the Rangers, rather restrained it from overstepping its mandate.
He pointed out that the PPP had rendered sacrifices to combat the menace of terrorism. He said the issue should be referred to the House committee concerned. PPP’s Sassui Palijo said that under the 18th Amendment, the provinces had been given significant powers but the incumbent government had started interpreting it in its own way and was interfering in provincial matters. “The minister for interior’s decision on the Rangers is like an attack on a province and this is not the correct approach,” said PPP’s Mukhtar Dhamra.
ANP’s Shahi Syed said that the Centre, instead of playing a mediatory role, had taken a unilateral step and it was incorrect.
Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani told the Senate that an investigation was under way into the recent alleged manhandling of PTI Senator Nauman Wazir and his staff and the officer present on the occasion was being probed. He said the Director General (C) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) visited him (Rabbani) on December 18 at his chamber and expressed concern and regret on the behalf of the army chief over the incident. Rabbani said the director general told him that he would get back to him and that they were also in touch with the senator. The Senate chairman asked the senator if he would press the matter after this follow-up. Senator Nauman highly appreciated the Senate chairman and said his concern over the incident and immediately taking up of the matter with the top military leadership had further added to his stature as the custodian of the Senate. He expressed satisfaction over what had been so far done with regard to the incident. The chair assured him that he would report to the House if any further development occurred.
Earlier, the senators agitated on the absence of the Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal during the Question-Hour, as several questions pertained to his ministry, particularly to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, were on the agenda.
Rabbani asked the government not to make the CPEC project controversial by running away from pointed questions asked by the members. He directed that the minister should be present in the House to answer the questions.
The Senate chairman also asked Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shiekh Aftab Ahmad to convey this message to the prime minister as well. He said Senator Babar, speaking on his deferred question on the CPEC, deplored that the planning minister was again absent despite the fact that the questions had been deferred in the past till the minister’s presence in the House.
Babar had asked for reasons as to why the CPEC projects relating to the western and northern alignments were specifically mentioned as such in the PSDP 2015-16 but those relating to the eastern route were not mentioned. He asked was this omission intentional to convey the false impression that the government wanted to build the western route on priority as decided in the May 28 all parties’ conference. During the Question-Hour, Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid told the House the next census will be held in March next year, as planned. He said an activity plan had been approved by the Governing Council headed by the finance minister, and budget allocation had also been made for the purpose. Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan said that Pakistan safeguarded its trade interests, particularly in the agriculture sector, in the 10th Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organization, concluded in Nairobi last week. He claimed Pakistan had now a level playing field for export of its agricultural products. Winding up discussion on an adjournment motion by Shahi Syed regarding spying on communication data of Pakistan, Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed said an inquiry conducted into the matter did not find any evidence in this regard.
Syed, through the motion, wanted discussion in the House on the statement of Edward Joseph Snowden, a former CIA official, that the GCHQ, a secret agency of Britain, used to spy on the communication data of Pakistan. The senator had quoted a media report.
Raising a point of public importance, Saeed Ghani noted that the employees of Heavy Mechanical Complex had not been paid salaries for the last three months. He said it was strange that prior to coming to power, the PML-N had claimed to have an able and experienced team of persons to reform the state entities but the rulers were destroying them.He requested the government to at least pay salaries to employees till the time it intended to employ them. MQM’s Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi complained that his party had pocketed over 80 percent votes from Karachi but the PPP had not consulted or informed them about the adoption of the resolution. He said it were they who had demanded across-the-board operation in Karachi, but they were subjected to oppression, whereas they demanded formation of a monitoring panel and across-the-board operation and the law-enforcement agencies’ functioning according to the law.