ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday decided to summon the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) after lawmakers from across the political spectrum expressed grave concern over what they termed as judicial interference in parliamentary affairs.
The issue was raised by PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwala, who criticised the recent stay orders issued by the Islamabad and Lahore high courts against Senate standing committee proceedings. Calling it an unprecedented intrusion, he said such interference undermines the constitutional role of parliament, particularly when no case is sub judice.
Presiding over the session, PPP’s Shahadat Awan agreed to notify the AGP, stating that the matter warrants legal clarity. Members from various parties, including JUIF’s Kamran Murtaza, PTI’s Saifullah Abro and PPP’s Zameer Hussain Ghumro, condemned the judicial overreach, citing constitutional protections of parliamentary sovereignty under Article 69(1). Some members, including Senator Kamran Murtaza, went as far as suggesting that the interference may justify a reference under Article 209 against responsible judges. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry backed the members’ concerns and supported summoning the AGP. The Senate Secretariat is expected to send a verbatim report of the proceedings to the AGP and seek his response, which will be presented to the Senate chairman for further action.
The House unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Israeli parliament’s move to assert sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, terming it illegal, illegitimate and void under international law. Moved by Senator Palwasha Khan, the resolution denounced the Israeli Knesset’s decision as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the Geneva Conventions. It called on the international community to take urgent action against Israeli expansionism and to safeguard the rights of Palestinian people. Reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, the Senate reiterated its call for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state. The House also urged the government to intensify diplomatic efforts to resist and reverse Israeli actions.
To the surprise of many, it was informed in the House that distribution under the Benazir Nashonuma Programme (BNP) is made only by a firm which is owned by a former finance minister.
Senator Anusha Rahman of PMLN had asked a question in writing about the BNP and the reasons for increase in its allocations and asked about the people awarded contract worth billions by the World Food Programme and if there was any audit mechanism within BISP.
Replying to her, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry confirmed that the WFP only awarded contract to a firm and the PPRA rules were also not followed. Reading out the year-wise budgetary allocation for the BNP since its inception, he noted that in the financial year (FY) 2021, Rs2.098 billion were allocated, Rs4.870 billion in FY2022, Rs20.660 billion in 2022-23, Rs34.670 billion in 2023-24 and Rs42.140 billion in 2025. He claimed that the increase to Rs20.66 billion was not discussed in the cabinet meeting at that time, as he had checked the related minutes of the meeting. “The revelation of names has made this a ticklish issue, as it is written in the documents that then finance minister himself announced this increase. So it may be referred to the finance committee, or a special committee be formed, if there is an issue of conflict of interest, then it may go to NAB,” remarked Anusha.
She said that the increase was announced during budget speech 2022-2023 given by the then finance minister and para 38 of the speech was reproduced; BNP (nutrition) programme will be extended to all districts at an expenditure of around Rs21.5 billion.
The parliamentary affairs minister said the BISP disburses funds to the World Food Programme (WFP), which conducts procurement and manages logistics using its internal global procurement systems. The Specialised Nutritional Food (SNF) is then distributed through BISP facilitation centres to eligible pregnant/lactating children under two. This firm has been the sole supplier of SNF since inception, as per the WFP procurement.
According to the documents provided in the Senate, the selection was carried out solely by WFP under its internal procurement procedures. No competitive process under Pakistan’s PPRA framework was applied. As for audit/oversight, WFP’s internal global auditing systems were used; Pakistani public audit mechanisms were not applied.
PTI’s Dr Humayun Mohmand rose to say that the former finance minister was protected by the ‘illegal regime’, whatever he did. All of a sudden they now talk of this huge public money, only after he said a few things about the policies of the incumbent government. “Was it not your government’s responsibility to bring transparency to this programme and why were you keeping your eyes shut?” asked Senator Danesh Kumar.
The chair called it a very sensitive matter, being linked to the name of a major national leader and referred it to the relevant House standing committee for deliberations and report, saying even an iota of doubt of embezzlement must not be ignored with regards to this national programme. The minister did not object to its referral.
