Greener pastures: Senators seek equal share in foreign trips

Questions ministry on policy to raise salaries.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs is seeking an equal share of the pie for all members of parliament when it comes to official visits to other countries. The committee has asked a representative of the ministry of parliamentary affairs to appear at its next meeting in order to respond to queries regarding a perceived ‘culture of favouritism’ regarding such foreign trips.

“It is not fair if only a few members of one party get all the opportunities to visit other countries,” said PPP senator Jehangir Bader, chairperson of the committee. Additionally, with the annual budget session around corner in June, Bader backed a query raised by PML-N senator Jaffar Iqbal regarding the ministry’s policy towards raising parliamentarians’ salaries.



Officials from the ministry of parliamentary affairs said that such decisions are made at the prime minister’s discretion; despite this, however, they said the ministry has been repeatedly grilled by parliamentary committee members about such perks and privileges since its very first meeting.

Senator Bader sought a policy to include politicians in foreign delegations while Senator Iqbal suggested amendments in the ministry’s functions in order to bridge the gap between the two houses in parliament. “We can brief the lawmakers about the details of foreign trips and delegations,” a member of the parliamentary affairs ministry told The Express Tribune, “but the prime minister has the final say on devising a new policy in this regard if he considers the committee’s recommendations appropriate.”

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has criticised the prime minister for his decision to include Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif in official trips, saying such actions ‘aggravate the sense of deprivation felt by other federating units of the country’.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2014.