ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani has ordered to summon the defence and foreign secretaries to appear before Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.
This order has come after a call attention notice was declined by the the two ministries. This notice was presented in relation to the 39-nation Islamic military alliance led by Saudi Arabia.
This alliance has mainly been formed to act against Daesh or Al Qaeda, while it will also act against rebel groups in case of a request by a member state.
Senator Farhatullah Babar had presented a call attention notice pertaining to the matter in the Senate, but no minister was there to respond to it.
The notice was submitted in the Senate Secretariat on April 25. It was forwarded to the Ministry of Defence on May 2 for submitting its response on the matter. But the ministry informed on Monday that the matter does not concern it, suggesting forwarding the notice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by saying that it has returned the notice to the Ministry of Defence.
This irked the Senate chairman who said the Parliament reserved the right to access to sensitive information, warning, “I will not tolerate if the Parliament is made a ping pong ball”.
He said if the Parliament cannot be informed in this regard, then what it is meant for. He ordered to summon defence and foreign secretaries to appear before the Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.
However, Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has conveyed a message to the house that he would give a statement in the Senate in this regard.
Senator Sherry Rehman said the civil-military ties in the country are such that now the army chief is going to visit Iran.
She lamented the prime minister was not even given a chance to speak to attendees at the conference.
