Loan accords be ratified by both houses: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani suggested on Saturday that all the foreign loan agreements should be ratified by the both the houses of parliament to ensure that the relevant constitutional provisions were being implemented with regard to volume of the foreign debt.

He said the Senate was the second home to the provinces for it represented the federating \units of the country, as he reminded the government about the announcement of new NFC Award.

Rabbani was of the view that if the federal government failed to announce the NFC in stipulated time, the Senate should have the powers to extend the award for a year and also to enhance the share of the provinces by one percent.

He said this while addressing a seminar titled "Enhancement of Powers of Senate for Stronger Federation" organised to mark the completion of the second parliamentary year of the Senate of Pakistan.

Among others, Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Leader of the House Senator Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Leader of the Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Speaker Balochistan Assembly Ms. Raheela Durrani, Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Asad Qaiser, representative of the Chief Minister Punjab Senior Minister Raja Ishfaq Sarwar and Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik attended and addressed the seminar.

He said that as strong Federation was the need of the hour and reiterated both the Houses should have equal powers and voting strength during the joint setting of parliament.

He said that since the inception of the Senate, it had been striving for equal representation of the provinces. “There is paradigm shift as we have changed from the presidential form of government to the parliamentary and participatory form of government and it is a political reality,” he argued.

He said that it was agreed that the CCI Secretariat would have the same status as the Cabinet Division has for the Federal Cabinet. But unfortunately it has not been implemented as yet.

The chairman Senate said that there was a need to amend the Constitution by adding a provision under which the chief minister of the provinces could address the Senate and present their issues and report performance of the province.

Rabbani said the Senate constituted a committee on those 24 demands, which after due diligence and consultation with all the stakeholders, including the provincial governments and the relevant departments of federal government has presented a report to the House.

Bringing the Upper House of the Parliament at par with the Lower House in term of the powers of the both, he pointed out that it was not unprecedented, as it was already being practiced in democratic countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said that increasing the powers of the Senate was equal to strengthening of the Federation and the provinces. He said that role of the Senate for making the Federation strong was unprecedented.

He said that inclusion of the Senate members in the PAC was a welcome step and proposed that the issues and disputes among the provinces in the Council of Common Interest should be presented in the Senate as it was the true representative of the federating units.

He observed that efforts of the Senate for inter-provincial harmony must be appreciated and given due consideration. 

Speaker Balochistan Ms Rahila Durrani said that less developed segments of the societies and areas had been represented by the Senate in befitting manner.

Secretary Senate of Pakistan Amjid Pervaiz Malik appreciated the consistent support of the provincial governments and the assemblies to the Senate of Pakistan for promoting commonly-cherished ideals of federalism and provincial autonomy and cohesion.