Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani on Friday strongly objected to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's meeting with representatives of leading political parties from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) controversy, arguing that it was not necessary at all when both houses of parliament were in session.
He made these observations when Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid requested for deferment of questions pertaining to his ministry as he wanted to rush to the PM's Secretariat to attend a meeting on the CPEC.
Though the chairman deferred the questions related to his ministry, he asked the Information Minister to ask the Prime Minister whether or not it was justified to hold such a meeting when both Senate and National Assembly were simultaneously in session.
He insisted that the Prime Minister should have presented his point of view and given assurance on the CPEC on the floors of Senate and National Assembly, adding this could have enhanced the prestige and importance of parliament.
"The Prime Minister could have called a meeting to address the reservations of Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak...it is also correct that he [PM] should also talk on CPEC in the parliament," relied Rashid.
The Senate chairman retorted if Pervaiz Khattak had certain grievance, there was a constitutional way to sort it out by convening a meeting of Council of Common Interest (CCI). He said the council should have been convened to take into confidence all the four chief ministers.
Later, several legislators were surprised by a development when the House was informed by PPP Senator Zaheeruddin Babar that despite Prime Minister's clear orders hundreds of female teachers at the government academic institutions, Islamabad, were neither regularised nor their salaries were increased and paid to them.
He said that scores of female teachers were peacefully protesting outside the Parliament House as an order by the Prime Minister had not been complied with. He recalled these teachers had managed to meet the Prime Minister when he visited Bharakahu recently.
He pointed out that the Prime Minister termed their salaries - Rs 8000-9000 - insufficient and gave directions to a local minister of state in this regards, but there has been no progress was made so far. The Senate chairman said a public petition, filed with the Senate Secretariat, was also being looked into; it was about a matter related to the Capital Development and Administration Division.
Sheikh Aftab, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs assured the house that he would convey this to the concerned state minister, adding the orders given by the Prime Minister would be implemented in letter and spirit.
Rabbani directed the government to apprise the house about progress by Monday, as the protest is continuing for the last about 59 days.
He said he would give a ruling regarding the issue of provincial job quota in the next Senate session, if the government, despite a commitment, failed to get the related bill through the NA standing committee concerned.
This, he said, when the matter was raised by independent Senator Mohsin Leghari, who said that there was a quota cover system, which lapsed in 2013 and afterwards no headway was made to come up with any formula on this count.
Rabbani directed PPP Senator Taj Haider to raise the issue of Punjab government's failure to nominate its member for National Finance Commission (NFC) when the Finance Minister would be making a statement on the state of national economy next week in Senate.
Haider alleged that NFC remained suspended just because of Punjab's inability to name its member.
Rabbani directed Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, to brief Senate on Tuesday about the status of induction of clerks, as youth belonging to Balochistan had appeared in tests and interviews five months back, but they still awaited the outcome of this process. The issue was raised by PML-Q Senator Kamil Ali Agha.
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