Defence minister barred from attending rest of Senate session

ISLAMABAD: In a rare ruling, Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Thursday barred Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif from attending remaining portion of the current session for obstructing the proceedings due to his absence from the House despite having been duly intimated by the Senate secretariat twice.

The every start of the Senate sitting was bumpy as the chair had to suspend the question hour for about half an hour on finding out that the minister for defence was not available while coincidentally the first question pertained to his ministry.

PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanvir Khan asked in writing the defence minister about the impact at Pak-Afghan border security after US Army’s exit from Afghanistan in the near future and whether any internal security plan had been devised to cope with the situation arising out in Pakistan after the US troops’ exit indicating also the route of the exit.

Then, again the chair adjourned the proceedings for ten minutes when a discussion listed as the last item (7) on the orders of the day was taken up and the minister was not present in the House for taking notes and winding it up at the end.

In his ruling, Rabbani said that as the custodian of the House, he could not allow it to become hostage to one person. He described the minister’s absence as a blatant violation of his chain of rulings, asking relevant ministers to be present in the House.

Rabbani asserted that as a custodian of the House, he could not be a silent bystander and allow it becoming hostage to an individual, who had been intimated even before the start of the session about the discussion on his statement, which he made in the Senate on December 31, 2015 about the visit of the army chief to Kabul, and then again his office was intimated a day earlier before the Thursday sitting.

The chair was informed by Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali that the defence minister had asked him to take notes of the speeches to be delivered by the senators and subsequently he would in writing reply to the points, they would raise.

“I can’t allow such practice, as it defeats the very essence of parliamentary norms and is tantamount to demeaning of Parliament,” he maintained and added that this was like breaching the privilege and prestige of the House.

Referring to the Rule 264 read with sub-rule 4 of Rule 13 and the powers vested in him as the Senate chairman, Rabbani said he was left with no other alternative but to declare that the Minister for Defence would not attend the proceedings of the Senate’s remaining portion of the session. 

His announcement was welcomed by many of the opposition senators with desk-thumping. The chair recalled his words of caution given on numerous occasions in 2015 and this year but the ministers continued to remain absent from the House despite the business related to their ministries was listed on the orders of the day.

He pointed out in the instance, a matter came up on December 29 last year when the issue of the army chief’s Kabul visit was raised in the House and the minister for defence was present in the House at that time, who sought two days to inform the House on substance of the meeting in Kabul.

Subsequently, the matter came up on December 31, when the minister made a statement on the army chief’s visit and the House was of the opinion that there should be discussion on it. The minister agreed that in the next session, he would be present to wind up the discussion.

The chair was informed at the start of the question hour that the minister was present in the National Assembly, as voting was taking place there. In respect of the House, he suspended the question hour for about 30 minutes to enable the minister to be present in the Senate.

The minister was present in the House when the question hour resumed and he was aware of item No 7 about the discussion. However, he could not be traced after the question hour by the minister of state for parliament affairs, minister of state for water and power and some other ruling party senators, who made attempts to locate him.

Earlier, as the chair took up item No 7, Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan rose to point out that the matter about the army chief’s visit to Kabul was raised in the House on December 29 but the minister was totally unaware of the visit, who was then given two days on his request for he could get briefing on the visit.

Aitzaz sought a statement from the minister as if he was briefed by the army chief himself or a staff officer had given him details of the visit. He said that without his statement, discussion could not be held.

PML-N Senators Mushahidullah, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Chaudry Tanvir Khan tried to convince the chair to either allow the minister of state to take notes after allowing the discussion or adjourn the House till Friday. The chair retorted how the Senate could be held hostage by one person for he was unable to turn up and would in writing wind up the discussion afterwards.

During the question hour, the Senate was informed that Pakistan Army was fully vigilant to handle technical aspects of Pak-Afghan border security after the US army's exit from Afghanistan.

During question hour, in a written rely, Minister for Defence said that 1,83,000 troops had been deployed to man the border besides enhanced patrolling and aerial surveillance. The minister said there was effective coordination between the government, Chief Minister's office, Governor's office and the Corp headquarters through regular apex committee meetings.

Responding to a calling attention notice by senators Sardar Azam Khan, Muhammad Usman Kakar of Pakthunkhwa Milli Awami Party and independent Senator Hidayat Ullah, Minister of State for Capital Administration Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said a committee set up by Islamabad High Court was looking into the issue of regularisation of contract teachers of Islamabad.

He assured the House that the committee’s recommendations would be implemented in letter and spirit. He dispelled the impression that due to strike of daily wagers (teachers), academic activities were being affected.

Responding to another calling attention notice moved by PPP Senator Sassui Palijo, Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid informed the House that all the provinces had representation on the governing council of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The minister said functional members of the Bureau had been appointed strictly according to the laid down criteria and on the basis of merit.