The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat was held under the chairmanship of Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad at Parliament House on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by Senators Afnanullah Khan, Sadia Abbasi, Saifullah Khan Niazi, Khalida Ateeb, Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Senior Officers of Cabinet Division and Establishment Division.
The meeting of the Standing Committee considered the amendment proposed by Senator Afnanullah Khan in the Senate House regarding dual citizenship of bureaucrats.
Senator Afnanullah Khan said that if people with dual citizenship take an oath of allegiance to countries other than Pakistan, then the question arises as to which country’s interests they will protect when the time comes.
Senator Sadia Abbasi asked how many bureaucrats have been punished for revealing national secrets till date? she said that this is a very serious matter. 20,000 officers will be affected by it. Chairman Committee Rana Maqbool Ahmed said that this matter will be decided after further consideration in the next meeting.
He directed that the details of the debate on the bill in the National Assembly should be provided to all the senators so that the matter could be settled and a logical conclusion could be reached soon. The Committee discussed in detail the issue raised by Senator Dilawar Khan with reference to the Central Selection Board.
Senator Dr. Zarqa Suhrawardy Taimur, while presenting her position through video link, said that the notifications of the selection boards held in January 2021 and September 2021 should be suspended and promotion of officers should be looked at anew on a transparent basis.
Senator Zarqa said that in the recent selection boards, blue eyed people have been promoted against the rules superceeding competent officers. And not providing the details requested by the committee in this regard is tantamount to insulting this House. The chairman of the committee said that how can one be deprived of promotion on the basis of only two average ACRs in the past .
The Chairman Committee directed the Establishment Division to consider the matter and take steps at the earliest to meet the requirements of justice. The Secretary Establishment said that the matter was pending in the courts and should not be discussed on this forum.
He further said that some of the details requested by the committee fall under the category of classified information. We have written to the Prime Minister for this and we will abide by whatever he decides.
The chairman of the committee said that officers who are not involved in any kind of corruption or misconduct should not be discriminated against.
