ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD: The joint opposition staged a walkout from the Senate on Monday against the recently promulgated amnesty scheme and demanded the government to reconsider it; however, State Minister for Finance Rana Afzal Khan stood his ground, saying there is nothing wrong with the move.

The opposition led by former Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and Opposition Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman came down hard on the government for issuing the “controversial” ordinance. Rabbani insisted that it was a breach of Senate as well as Parliament.

He challenged the government to prove with documents that the cabinet had given approval to the scheme. He said that even the President who just promulgated the ordinance has committed breach of the Parliament.

Rabbani raised the issue of promulgation of four ordinances by President Mamnoon Hussain a few hours before commencement of the Senate session. He added the National Assembly’s session was also going to be held in next twenty-four hours when the ordinances were promulgated.

The first sitting of the maiden session of the new parliamentary year was marred by lack of coordination between treasury and opposition benches while Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani chaired the proceedings of the formal session.

Speaking on a point of order, Rabbani pointed out that there has been a breach of this House [Senate] and that of Parliament and the cause of action was promulgation of four ordinances by the President. “An ordinance factory was established just 12 hours before the Senate session near the Parliament building,” he noted.

He continued that it is unfortunate that the President did so despite being a part of the Parliament under Article 50 of the Constitution, who had already summoned both Houses of Parliament to meet and hence it was most inappropriate to promulgate ordinances and the matter does not stop here.

Then Rabbani narrated how the Prime Minister announced concessions at a presser after the Economic Advisory Council meeting, which has no place in the Constitution as well the law and the federal government’s rules of business.

“How can a council, made on the basis of a notification, take far reaching taxation decisions, which are governed by Article 77 of the Constitution, which says if the federal government is to impose a tax or reduce it, it shall be through an act of Parliament,” he argued.

Rabbani also noted that the President did not take into consideration the very fact that these ordinances were not placed before the cabinet, as the council had no constitutional or legal status.

He also read out relevant portions of the Supreme Court judgment, which said that the prime minister could not bypass the cabinet, as this would be ultra vires of the Constitution, adding the ordinance by itself is illegal.

He contended that the President should have made it sure that the ordinances must first go to the cabinet for their consideration and approval. He urged the chairman to give his ruling as a breach of privilege of the House has taken place.

State Minister for Finance Rana Afzal was on his feet to maintain that there has been neither violation of the law nor of the Constitution and that the ordinances were also promulgated as per the time frame, adding the cabinet approval was obtained via circulation of the document (amnesty scheme). He insisted the point of order is misplaced.

Rabbani reacted by saying how such an important scheme is being offered by just hoodwinking the cabinet that it was approved through circulation. “If their hands are clean, they should bring the scheme in the House and there should be debate on it. I challenge that as per the minister’s statement, the circulated document be produced in the House during the sitting,” he said.

The minister responded that he has stated in categorical terms in the House, prompting Rabbani to again insist on production of the circulated document.

PTI Parliamentary Leader in Senate Azam Swati also wanted the chair to decide on the question of privilege, as according to him, the government has done blatant disregard to the Senate.

Sherry Rehman alleged that the government has breached the privilege of Senate and the National Assembly and said the opposition stands united on the matter as they already had discussions on it.

She questioned the logic behind bringing this scheme with the budget to be present within a few weeks in the Parliament. She also referred to international body’s caution to Pakistan with regards to money laundering.

“We have not got elected for TA/DA, we are here for transparency. We will have to decide today for how long the government will continue undermining the Parliament while neither the Prime Minister nor his ministers come here,” she charged. Sherry urged for referring the matter to the House privileges committee.

Treasury Senator Haroon Akhtar disputed the opposition’s contention and said there is no mention of the scheme in the council meeting and for the cabinet approval, there are rules of procedure and asked if this is for the first time that a scheme has been announced or ordinance promulgated.

He claimed all the three points, including the ordinances were promulgated few hours before the session, the cabinet had not approved the scheme and the council carried no legal status, did not constitute breach of privilege.

Rabbani rose to say that a government senator has opened a bigger Pandora’s Box by saying that the council had not discussed it. “Then where was it discussed as the scheme was the PM’s brainchild. He thought of it and then held a news conference on it,” he wondered.

He said such an important legislation, relating to taxation, was needed to be carried out under the Constitution and the law, adding the SC judgment has also been negated.

JI’s Sirajul Haq claimed the common Pakistani considers such wealth ill-gotten, which the government wants to bring back and wants to make it ‘Halal’ through a ‘Haram’ way. He wanted a discussion on whether or not the scheme is legitimate.

The minister assured the House that due diligence was done with regards to the scheme and thousands of officials and government employees had given their input spread over several months of hard work. He regretted that the legitimate earning of Pakistanis was termed as ‘Haram’, which was not correct.

“There was time when electricity was not available for 20 hours a day, which forced people to shift their investment to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and Dubai. The government now wants them to return to Pakistan,” he said.

Sanjrani ruled that the question of privilege would be taken up at the time of laying of the ordinances in the House. By that time, opposition senators had staged walkout from the House.