Elements opposed to transfer of powers to provinces being watched: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Thursday said that he had almost finalised his ruling on the issue of trichotomy of powers as he maintained that he was watching the elements which were working against the transfer of powers to the provinces.

He said that he would announce the ruling soon. He invited Senator Farhatullah Babar to his chamber on Friday (today) for discussion on the issue.

Speaking on a point of public importance, Senator Farhatullah Babar called upon Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani to announce his ruling on trichotomy of powers as the MPs expressed their apprehension over the shifting of power balance away from the elected Parliament. He said that power was continuously shifting away from the civilian structures of the state as invisible forces were relentlessly busy re-writing the political and parliamentary narrative.

“And it is critical that an appropriate ruling is announced to put on notice these elements ahead of the forthcoming Senate elections,” he added. Babar said that the continuing shrinking of civilian and parliamentary space and its taking over by invisible forces and civil-military bureaucratic complex was dangerous and must be curbed.

He said during discussion on trichotomy of powers recently he had pointed out that the central issue was the systematic and deliberate shifting of locus of power from Islamabad to Rawalpindi and worse still the new locus was not accountable.

He said this phenomenon was summed up by former army chief General Jehangir Karamat while commenting on the Legal Framework Order (LFO) of General Pervez Musharraf, adding that General Karamat publicly admitted that the LFO represented the long standing desire of the military to re-write the civil-military equation on the terms of the military.

“So neither is it anything new nor is there any doubt about what he has been saying. The issue is that lately it has acquired speed and momentum that bode ill for the federation,” he added. Later, taking part in debate on an admitted adjournment motion by Col (R) Syed Tahir Mashhadi and others, the opposition senators lambasted the government for increase in petroleum product prices, saying it was nothing but to ‘snatch food from the mouth of the poor’.

They also staged a token walkout, which was also joined by Paktunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Senator – an ally of the ruling PML-N. Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan assured the Senate that the government was confident of thwarting a move initiated by the United States to put Pakistan on a global terrorist-financing watchlist under an anti-money-laundering monitoring group. Some reports suggested recently thatPakistan might be added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with terrorist financing regulations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – a measure that might hurt its economy.

Speaking on a ministerial response to a question asked by Senator Farhatullah Babar, Rana Afzal said that it was a political move, which was being done at the behest of anti-Pakistan elements.

The minister said, “We are aggressively contesting this move and are optimistic about getting the support of certain countries, for which interior minister and adviser to the prime minister on finance are already abroad”.

Despite all out efforts to put Pakistan on terror-financing list that was a dangerous move, he said, “We have taken all measures to foil the bid as strict actions are being taken against terror financing”.

About display of ‘free Karachi’ advertisements in a leading US newspaper, Afzal said that the government had taken up the matter with the US State Department and they had assured that they would continue to support Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as strongly as possible.

Besides, he said that the issue was also taken up with US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells during his recent visit to Pakistan who also assured Pakistan that such campaigns against Pakistan were not acceptable.

The minister said that Pakistani community in US had also played a pivotal role and took up the matter at several forums, adding the country had no legal option to drag the newspaper to the court otherwise it could have been done.

He said that India was behind all these malicious campaigns against Pakistan, and it was giving $3,000 to a taxi for carrying anti-Pakistan posters, but Pakistan would like to make it clear that the enemy would not succeed in its nefarious motives.

Winding up the debate, Minister of State for Maritime Affairs Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal said that they had no justification but to say that POL prices had increased after the rates of crude oil was surged in the international market.The government admitted that it had failed to revamp the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) despite all out efforts.

Responding to a calling attention notice by PPP Senator Sherry Rehman about closure of PIA routes to Oman and Kuwait, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab said that due to heavy loss incurred to PIA, the government had no option but to shut PIA routes to New York first and then to Oman and Kuwait.

“We must accept that we have failed to revamp PIA despite all out efforts and we welcome suggestion from both treasury and opposition on how to put the PIA on right track as we are all are equally concerned about deteriorating situation of this national entity,” he added.

He said that the out of total 36 planes, PIA had only 12 planes while the remaining planes were on dry lease, adding efforts were being made to revamp PIA as now a new CEO had been appointed by the prime minister.

Senator Sherry Rehman said that it was important to point out that air traffic had swelled 40 percent over the past five years to 20 million passengers, but PIA was halting international flight routes.

“Five new international airlines are expected to venture into Pakistan’s aviation industry by next year, which will pose fresh challenges to financially struggling PIA,” she added. She said that a few months ago, PIA halted flight routes to New York for the first time since 1961, adding despite the global trends of improvement in profitability and significant decline in oil prices, PIA continued to make losses and could not even cover costs.