Expressing strong reservations against continuous absence of ministers from Senate proceedings, acting Senate chairman Sabir Baloch on Tuesday gave a ruling demanding Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf take action against the ministers remaining absent from Senate proceedings. The PML-N also staged a walkout over the issue, while the MQM staged a walkout over the raise in rates of overseas telephone calls.
Members of the Upper House met under the chairmanship of Sabir Baloch to resume the proceedings of the House. During the question answer session, members recorded their strong protest over the absence of ministers from Senate proceedings, saying it was useless to table various questions in the House when no minister was available to answer them.
Members belonging to both treasury and the opposition benches expressed their strong concerns on continued absence of the ministers concerned, calling it an insult of the House, adding that business of the House could not be maintained in such manner. Recording their complaints, they urged the acting chairman to ensure the presence of absent ministers and demanded a ruling over the issue. Col (r) Tahir Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) pointed out that not only the ministers were absent, they also avoided giving any replacement that might respond to the questions of the members, while ANP’s Zahid Khan stressed the acting chairman to give his ruling against the ministers.
Sardar Fateh Mohammad also demanded a ruling, as “it has became a routine for the ministers to stay away from the House during the proceedings and to not to give the House due respect”.
Senator Babar Khan Ghauri asked the chair to find out the lists of MPs who were disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan for not giving details of their assets. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz senators, including Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rasheed and Syed Zafar Ali Shah pointed out that questions raised by them often remained unanswered, which was not an ethical practice.
They also staged a walkout over the issue, urging the chair to bring the issue into the notice of the prime minister. Sabir Baloch said it was unfortunate and beyond understanding that what the prime minister and the rest of ministers thought about the Senate, adding that a number of requests had been forwarded to the PM, asking him to direct the ministers to maintain the discipline in the House, but in vain.
Senator Mashhadi declared the rise in overseas calls a great injustice to overseas Pakistanis and mentioned that the government had collected extortion money worth Rs 20 million in just a week in the name of taxes on overseas calls. Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said, “The minister concerned says that he had not ordered any such raise on the overseas calls, then who raised the calls?” He said it was a move by the ministries for interior and telecom.
Demanding the government withdraw the raise in charges of overseas calls, the MQM senators also staged a walkout from the Senate to record their protest.
