ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani Friday stopped the government from tabling ‘Companies Ordinance, 2016’ before Senate as its copies were not made available to the Senate Secretariat for distribution among Senators.

Leader of the House in Senate Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq wanted to lay the ordinance but he had to defer it till next week as the Chair said its copies must be distributed among the members before laying the ordinance before the house.

Rabbani suggested that the ordinance might be laid afterwards. Several items on the orders of the day could not be taken up due to non-availability of senators concerned, as the fresh session was hurriedly called, whereas the regular session was scheduled for November 21.

The Chairman Senate also did not allow former Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid to lay the copy of the bill before the House, saying he could not lay bill as he is no more a minister.

Raising a point, Rabbani observed that it would have been better if the government and National Accountability Bureau had implemented the points raised several times in Senate with regards to certain NAB officers.

In this context, he made a reference to the Supreme Court’s order regarding some officers’ appointment and their merger into the NAB. He noted that it was often said that this was not the function of the Parliament and certain issues were not brought before it.

Rabbani pointed out that this issue was first raised in Senate by Senator Saeed Ghani, and senators had submitted questions, adjournment motions and calling attention notices in the matter. The House had witnessed discussions on this matter repeatedly.

The House adopted two separate resolutions to condole the sad demise of former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Jehangir Badr and Awami National Party Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel. The resolutions noted that their services for democracy would always be remembered. 

Those who spoke included Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, Opposition Leader Aitzaz Ahsan, and Senators Mushahidullah Khan, Saleh Shah, Usman Khan Kakar, Talha Mehmood and Sehar Kamran.

The Senators from both treasury and opposition benches showered praise on the late senators.

PPP’s Parliamentary Leader in Senate, Taj Haider presented a resolution for the late Badr while Senator Raja Zafarul Haq tabled a resolution for late Haji Adeel.

Aitzaz recalled how bravely Badr fought during martial law regimes and was subjected to police brutality and lashes during Zia’s era.

Raja Zafar praised Haji Adeel for his unflinching struggle for the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

The legislators were particularly impressed by loyalty of these late senators to their respective parties.

The Chairman Senate had to defer two adjournment motions owing to absence of the concerned senators. These adjournment motions were regarding loss of Rs4.46 billion incurred by Nandipur power plant in June 2016 and 36 per cent increase in the gas prices by the government, as reflected in different newspapers on October 10, 2016.

Yet another motion pertaining to the privatisation policy of the government in the light of sub-section (2) of section 16 of the Privatization Commission Ordinance, 2000 was withdrawn by the mover.

The Senate passed a motion to suspend the question hour, which was not part of the orders of the day. The House will now resume on Monday afternoon.

Separately, nine students of University of California, Berkeley, USA, who visited Senate, were given a guided tour of the Gali-e-Dastoor (the Constitution Gallery). It began with witnessing the introductory video documentary explaining the overall thematic overview of the Gali. 

After this the students were given a briefing about each document and picture displayed in the Gali explaining the ups and downs in Pakistan’s constitutional history. The visit ended at the courtyard where a fountain depicts the Pakistani federalism. The students were also given a tour to the Senate hall.

It may be noted that these visits to the Upper House and particularly the Gali-e-Dastoor are a part of Senate’s outreach and education programme to enhance awareness about the Parliament, Constitution and Pakistan’s constitutional history. 

The Gali-e-Dastoor was launched and opened for public in September when an open invitation was announced to register free visits online or by contacting the Senate Secretariat and has so far been host to around 700 visitors. The visitors include diplomatic community, politicians, think tanks, media, students and faculty from schools, colleges and universities, families and individuals.