Clarifying remarks: Senate panel to summon Imran within 10 days

If PTI chief fails to clarify bribery claims, a legal notice will be filed against him.

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures has decided to summon Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan within 10 days to clarify his “controversial” remarks against senators.

Imran, in an interview, accused senators of bribing the heads of political parties to gain access to the upper house and said they had delivered nothing in the larger public interest.

In its meeting on Thursday, members of the panel also decided to serve a contempt notice to the PTI chief in case his reply failed to satisfy them.

The meeting was held to discuss the privilege motion entrusted to the committee by the Senate. The upper house, in its last sitting, adopted a privilege motion against Imran over his remarks and referred it to the standing committee for further debate.

Expressing serious reservation over the use of ‘abusive’ language against senators, the panel unanimously adopted a motion – moved by committee member Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal – to summon the PTI chief and ask him to explain the context he had made the statement in.

“If he fails to clarify his remarks and satisfy the committee members, then action will be taken against him through a legal notice,” said panel chairman Tahir Hussain Mashhadi.

“How can a parliamentarian and the head of a political party use such abusive language against other parliamentarians without any evidence?” asked Mashhadi. According to him, the PTI chief should have lodged a complaint with the Election Commission if he had any proof in this regard.

Earlier, the committee expressed its displeasure at the absence of the PIA managing director and other officials who had been asked to respond to a privilege motion pertaining to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.