Upper house: When will PM come to the Senate?

PPP senator says premier is answerable to the Senate as to the National Assembly.

ISLAMABAD:

Opposition in Senate criticised the prime minister for not showing up in the Upper House since assuming charge as premier.

“The attitude of the prime minister not only undermines the importance of the Senate but also violates the 18th Amendment,” said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani as he spoke on point of order.

“Since assuming charge in June this year, he [Nawaz Sharif] never bothered to come to this august house,” Rabbani said, adding that it was a matter of “grave concern that the government had put the parliament on the backburner.”

He also pointed out that the premier and the cabinet were both as answerable to the Senate as they were to the National Assembly. “But, we feel the Upper House is being dealt with discrimination.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2013.