Ministers not attending Question Hour to be suspended: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Monday warned that he would suspend the ministers not coming to the House during the Question-Hour and said the government was intentionally weakening parliament.

The warning came from him at a time when seven agenda items had to be deferred owing to absence of four ministers concerned and this forced Rabbani to charge that the government itself was weakening parliament.

“I will not conduct the proceedings of the House even if the president summons it. I will just come, open the proceedings and will then adjourn it, as the government ministers do not pay any heed to the Senate,” he warned.

He asked Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq to look into the matter, saying the absence of ministers had become a routine matter, which showed the government was not serious about Upper House of Parliament, which was not acceptable.

The Senate passed three unanimous resolutions. The first resolution moved by the PML-N’s Chaudhry Tanvir Khan recommended the government to take effective steps for promotion of wind energy in the country. The second resolution moved by Dr Karim Ahmad Khawaja of the PPP recommended the government to takeeffective steps to implement the provision of clause (3) of Article 172 of the Constitution in letter and spirit. The third resolution by PTI’s Mohsin Aziz sought appointment of a minister for the Ministry of Textile Industry to promote the growth of textile exports and sustainability of the textile sector.

Speaking on a motion moved by Azam Khan Swati of the PTI, the lawmakers said that measures like specification, design, technology and load-management should be taken into consideration for construction of the quality roads. They said that performance guarantee should be taken from the contractor and he should be held responsible for repairing of the roads for at least five years, adding that strict measures should be taken for elimination of corruption from this sector.

Some of the MPs criticised the NHA chairman for the dilapidated condition of the roads despite getting heavy tolls. Col (R) Tahir Mashhadi of the MQM alleged that the government had institutionalised corruption due to which it had become rampant.

Speaking on a point of public importance, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP said with the kidnapping of two close aides of former president Asif Zardari, a new dimension has been added to the missing persons’ controversy as people are kidnapped for settling political scores with political leaders.

Meanwhile, the senate chairman said negotiations would be held with the National Assembly for giving more powers to the Senate in the light of some amendments made in the Senate rules in February this year.

Raza Rabbani said the House Business Advisory Committee would initiate negotiations with the National Assembly in this regard. Senators have been demanding since long that the Upper House should have more powers, being the voice of federating units.

Earlier, taking part in debate on Constitution Day celebrations, the PML-F Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah said despite passage of 1973 Constitution, the country still had no federal participatory Constitution, which was reflective in the limited powers to the Senate.

The veteran lawmaker said it is not a truly federal participatory democracy, as the Senate has no fiscal powers. “The Senate can’t vote for the election of the prime minister, so we have a long way to go and to achieve this goal, we need to make amendments in the Constitution,” he said.

The PPP Senator Abdul Rehman Malik pointed out that his party leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who gave a consensus constitution to the country, should be given the title of ‘Baba-e-Dastoor-e-Pakistan’.

“The chairman Senate, who had to his credit hectic struggle and sacrifices to protect the Constitution, should be called ‘the protector of the Constitution’…but alas! Who cares, as the case of Bhutto’s judicial murder is yet to be decided by the top court of the country,” he lamented.

Rabbani expressed gratitude for the support extended to the Senate by the president, prime minister, four chief ministers, speaker National Assembly and the state minister for information for bringing out a special supplement in the newspapers about the Constitution Day of Pakistan.

Fata Senator Sajid Turi regretted that the heirs of Parachinar martyrs were being given Rs300,000 contrary to those who were martyred in terror incidents across the country who were given Rs1.5 million.

“The militancy-hit Fata terrorist incident victims should be given much more compensation and if not then there should be no discrimination with them and at least they should be given Rs1.5 million,” he added.