The members of the upper house of parliament have once again demanded that senators should be given equal representation in the panel approved to be formed through a National Assembly resolution to probe into the alleged rigging in the July 25 general election.
On Wednesday, the Senate met hardly for one-and-a-half-hour and was adjourned due to the lack of quorum. Strangely, both Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Deputy Chairman Saleem Manviwalla were absent during the entire sitting.
Senator Sitara Ayaz from the Awami National Party (ANP), a member of the panel of presiding officers, acted as presiding officer to chair the proceedings.
In response to the demand of various lawmakers that senators should also be given membership in the parliamentary committee to probe polls, Sitara said that the Senate has written a letter to the speaker NA requesting, equal representation for the senators in the said panel.
“We are going to have a long weekend due to Muharram and weekly holidays. As we meet again on Monday, the matter will hopefully be decided,” Sitara said. She endorsed the demand, saying it was their right to be part of a key parliamentary panel that was tasked to probe alleged rigging.
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Rehman Malik also presented a report on the general elections. The report also recommended the formation of a parliamentary panel to probe the opposition parties’ claims about a foul play on July 25.
Apparently irked by the absence of any federal minister or relevant government functionary during the Senate session, Sitara came down hard on the government officials, saying that they were least interested in the proceedings of the upper house.
“This is such a non-serious attitude. It seems that the government is not serious at all in participating in the affairs of the parliament. There is no one from the government to respond to points of order, calling attention notices and relevant issues. This will not work.”
She directed the Leader of the House Shibli Faraz to make ensure the presence of federal ministers, parliamentary secretaries and relevant government officials during the related Senate sessions.
Facing lack of quorum, the chair later adjourned the Senate proceedings till Monday, 3 pm.
Meanwhile, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill 2018 was introduced in the Senate and was referred to the relevant Senate committee for further review.
The bill was to be moved by Federal Minister for Information Technology Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui but on account of his absence, State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar introduced the bill.
Earlier on Tuesday, the NA unanimously approved a resolution for formation of a committee to be chaired by a member from the government side to probe into the opposition parties’ claim that July 25, 2018, general elections was rigged.
During the related NA session, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had presented the resolution calling for “a parliamentary committee to make Terms of References (ToRs) and probe the alleged rigging in the general election”.
