The Senate session was prorogued sine die by the deputy speaker on Thursday after conclusion of its business amid heated arguments between the opposition and treasury benches after which the quorum was pointed out and the meeting called off.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution, the president has been pleased to prorogue the Senate session on the conclusion of its business," said a prorogation order read by Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, who chaired the session.
The Senate also offered Fateha for the souls of victims of the Peshawar madrassa blast. Mushtaq Ahmed led the prayers on the deputy chairman’s request.
At the outset of the proceedings, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz stood up from his seat to deliver the government’s stance on the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement rallies but was stopped by the deputy chairman from making an “anti-opposition policy statement”.
Shibli, accompanied by Leader of the House Shahzad Waseem, got into a heated argument with Mandviwalla for not being allowed to reply to the opposition’s criticism of government policies.
Shibli remained adamant on not being allowed to speak and sharply criticised the opposition, saying that there is no agenda bigger than the national interest. “The opposition benches are against the country.”
On the PDM rallies, Waseem said, “Terrorist activities are on the rise in this environment.
He said that the PDM rallies, which started from Gujranwala, reached Quetta, insulting Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
“The government rejects the language of [National Security Adviser to the Indian PM] Ajit Doval and [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, spoken in the Pakistani people's opposition rallies.”
Leader of the Opposition in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq said, “The government cannot run the house in the manner it wants.”
PPP’s Senator Raza Rabbani drew the attention of the house towards the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Ordinance 2019, saying that the ordinance has lapsed. “There is no chairman of the authority. It is operating without any law as its ordinance expired in June.”
Rabbani accused the government of deliberately allowing the CPEC Ordinance to be repealed “because it wanted to put it behind it”.
He said that now the government has brought a new bill under which the chairman and members of the CPEC Authority are going to be given “exemption”. “How it is possible that the National Accountability Bureau law is applicable to all institutions while one is exempted. Is it an effort to give one person an NRO?”
Terming Rabbani’s remarks an attempt to put CPEC in doubt, Shibli said that the previous government had made CPEC a private project, “we have come to create institutions”. “We want to make CPEC a non-political organisation.”
Shibli replied, “CPEC is a development project between Pakistan and China and no conspiracy can derail it. Let's see if the opposition approves the CPEC Authority bill or not.”
At the request of the opposition, the deputy chairman suspended the agenda and started discussion on the Peshawar terror incident.
Senator Sirajul Haq accused the prime minister, chief minister, governor and local MNAs of not reaching the blast site to escape the grief and anger of the people.
Senator Ataur Rehman lashed out, saying: “You found madrassa children to stop PDM rallies? PDM’a agenda is being linked with India's. Don't you remember the time of your opposition?”
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