Govt tries to dispel impression it intends to roll back the 18th Amendment. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
The discussion on ordinances started after Senator Ghaus Muhammad Khan Niazi on a point of public interest raised the issue of delay in putting the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Ordinance before the upper house.
He requested the house to take up the issue as the ordinance had been brought to the Senate on January 8 and the Senate secretariat had formed an ad-hoc committee whereas the Senate members were not selected for the medical council yet.
Senate panel rejects proposal for swift tax recovery
Senator Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said the government was asked to give reason for not putting senators in the council while the government took the stance that the council was made on the orders of the Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court orders are quite different from this ordinance and it has undermined privilege of this house. The Senate session is going on but the ordinance has not been tabled. The government has apparently violated the Article 183 Section 3 of the Constitution," he said.
He claimed that the ordinance was illegal as it was earlier not approved by the Senate and sent back to the National Assembly by the then Senate chairman. "The legislation should have been sent to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) which did not happen. The government could not keep the ordinance for over 120 days and opposition would bring resolution in the house over the matter."
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the Law Minister Farogh Naseem would be present in the next session and would elaborate the matter.
However, Leader of the House Shibli Faraz said, "They (opposition) are enjoying this pointless debate over the ordinance whereas Senator Raza Rabbani is pointing out legal issues. The opposition is wrong to claim that the government is not carrying out legislation."
To a comment of the PPP's Sherry Rehman, Faraz said the opposition does not appreciate sensitivity of issues of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and only pays lip-service.
"If the ordinance is illegal, then we could be considered wrong. However, we were not members of the Senate when this ordinance was presented," he added.
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad also dispelled the impression that the government intends to roll back the 18th Amendment but said: "The Constitution is a living document and amendments in its laws can be made for the betterment of their legal scope."
He said there are different views on the issue of 18th Amendment whereas there is no such agenda under discussion by the cabinet or any other government forum.
Sahiwal tragedy
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Rehman Malik on Thursday presented an interim report in the Senate, recommending steps to avert recurrence of incidents like Sahiwal tragedy and proposed a welfare plan for the children of the victim family.
Four occupants of a car were gunned down by a team of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials near Sahiwal on January 19. The CTD after making many conflicting statements had stuck to its claim that driver of the fateful car, Zeeshan, had links with a terror group.
Presenting the report, Malik said the committee had decided that it would not accept the CTD report as its officials were implicated in the case. He said the victim family was called to give its viewpoint before the committee. The committee still questions as to how Zeeshan was made a suspect.
"The committee has asked the Punjab government to explain how Zeeshan was declared a suspect. We are not satisfied with the evidence against Zeeshan and we still need concrete proof," he added.
He said: "Our investigation is complete and it is recommended that the guardian court decide a lump sum amount for taking care of the children [who survived the so-called encounter]".
Senator Azam Swati appreciated the effort made by the committee while Senator Atiq Sheikh who was member of the committee, said in the past the police were used for personal purposes. He said it was written in the report that all those who misused their powers should be held accountable.
"It was unfortunate that in the Sahiwal tragedy, the case was registered against those who were murdered and were victims in the incident," he said adding names of other institutions were mentioned by the CTD to save its skin.
Senator Muhammad Ali Saif said killing of Zeeshan was not justified and he should have been brought to court if he had done anything wrong. Senator Sarfraz Bugti said the entire CTD should not be held responsible as it has always been in the forefront of the anti-terrorist operations in the country.
"The whole house should be given an in-camera briefing to sort out the facts of the case," he said.
Senator Usman Kakar was of the view that the two committees of human rights and interior should jointly investigate the matter, instead of looking into the issue separately.
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