Senators call for steps to mainstream smaller provinces

ISLAMABAD: The retiring legislators in the Senate Wednesday called for tangible mainstreaming of Balochistan and ensuring the smaller provinces had complete control of their natural resources.

They also vehemently advocated empowering the upper house of the Senate in line with the National Assembly and said presently the Senate was just like a ‘hujra’ and debating club, having no say in election of the prime minister, passage of the budget and legislation.

At his farewell, Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal said that there was a need to learn from the past and give the smaller provinces their due.

He said that the distribution of resources should be on the basis of the area, as Balochistan was almost 50 per cent of total Pakistan, minus Kashmir, but it was not developed the way it shoud have been.

Senator Jamaldini said that the Senate was the upper house of parliament but in reality just a debating club while the lower house enjoyed all powers.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Senator Usman Khan Kakar warned against the planning to roll back the 18th Amendment and enforcement of a presidential system in the country and said that the strongest-ever resistance would come from the federating units.

Senator Kakar urged the PPP and PML-N to shun playing for power and instead play for principles. Referring to the use of money in Senate elections, he recalled how at one time a businessman and his two sons remained members of this House. He also said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was witness to the fact that rates for Senators in Balochistan were up to Rs700 million in recent elections.

PML-N’s Abdul Qayyum urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint those chief ministers in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who could deliver and take care of masses rights, as the governance was extremely weak presently. He also urged the premier to create an environment of working relationship, as presently political polarization was at its peak.

PTI’s Nauman Wazir Khattak called for ensuring implementation of the recommendations of the House standing committees and gave examples of how key issues were resolved at the committee level but never implemented.

He said that the parliamentary committee on judges should either be made effective or dissolved. He wished lawmakers of political parties to take stand on principles even it goes against the party lines and try to convince the leadership.

MQM Senator Khushbakht Shujaat in her speech reminded Prime Minister Imran Khan about his statement of early days of his party that he would give special attention to education and impose

education emergency to boost literacy.

She said that the nation was looking up to the prime minister and he must not disappoint them.