Two senators who were played key roles in the passage of the historic 18th amendment to the Constitution on Thursday called attention of the House towards a recent paper by a former caretaker minister proposing cuts in shares of the provinces in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.
Senator Raza Rabbani sought action against Shamshad Akhtar for making recommendations, which, he said, could harm the federation if entertained. Senator Hasil Bizenjo also registered protest over the remarks and vowed to defend the 18th amendment.
Responding to these points, Leader of the House Shibli Faraz insisted that the government desired early announcement of new NFC award. He said that the finance minister had also reaffirmed the commitment.
On a point of order, Senator Sherry Rehman regretted that the Parliament and other relevant stakeholders were not taken on board regarding the government’s decision to form a new unified regulatory body for media, replacing the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP).
Faraz responded that the PTI government believed in transparency and assured the House that all actions would be taken in accordance with the law and Constitution.
Also on Thursday, Rehman sought an explanation over the government’s position in the row that erupted after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s telephonic exchange with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Referring to the Foreign Office’s latest statement that it did not intend to prolong the controversy, the senator said it appeared that the FO was dragging its feet deliberately after the issuance of the transcript of the call by US State Department. Earlier, Pakistan had rejected a statement issued by the State Department, claiming that the issue of terrorism was discussed during the telephone call. It maintained that Pompeo called only to congratulate Khan over his victory in the election.
During the question hour, the Senate was informed that a holistic approach would be adopted to provide full legal and humanitarian assistance to the Pakistani prisoners languishing in foreign jails. Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari told the House that consular services of the country’s foreign missions would be upgraded for the purpose. She said a policy decision would also be taken to get in touch with different countries for repatriation of Pakistani prisoners.
The ministry further said that 6,450 Pakistanis were imprisoned in Gulf states.
In a written reply, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmoud Qureshi told the House that safeguarding national security, promoting Pakistan’s economic interests and strengthening international partnerships were some of the overarching themes of the country’s foreign policy. He said that as in any other democratic country the foreign policy would be formulated by the government, with an equally important role to be assigned to the Parliament, security agencies and some other ministries. He said similar practice was followed in other countries too.
In connection with the International Day of the Disappeared, the Senate passed a resolution urging the government to immediately enact legislation to criminalise enforced disappearances. The resolution also asked the government to join the international campaign to end enforced disappearances by ratifying the International Convention on Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances. The resolution expressed solidarity with the families of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearances. It assured the families of disappeared persons that the upper house of the Parliament would be their voice in ensuring justice.
Published in Daily Times, August 31st 2018.
