Passing remarks against Senate Minister stopped from participating in proceedings

In a rare parliamentary precedent, Presiding Officer on Tuesday prevented a federal minister to participate in the proceedings of the Senate over alleged remarks against the Upper House of the Parliament in National Assembly.
Terming remarks by Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid in National Assembly against the Senate as breach of privilege of the Upper House of the Parliament, the opposition senators strongly protested the remarks, in which he allegedly stated that the "Senate is setting wrong traditions".
"The Minister cannot participate in today's sitting [of the Senate] and it's up to him if he wants to leave or stay", Presiding Officer Sabil Ali Baloch said in his short ruling. However, he reserved the detailed ruling on the matter for today (Wednesday) and also summoned the transcript of the National Assembly proceedings to verify the facts. The minister wanted to take the floor to clarify his position but the presiding officer denied as the opposition senators were protesting and chanting "No No".
"Sorry, You cannot participate in the today's proceedings...I've already given my ruling," Baloch said while denying the floor to the federal minister. Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq in his opinion stated that the minister should have given an opportunity for clarifying his position saying "even a murderer is given an opportunity to defend his position". "Though you've already given your ruling which I oppose yet you should summon the record of the National Assembly's proceedings to verify the facts and then come up with a decision," Haq added.
However, the minister remained at the House till the House proceedings were suspended for Maghrib prayer despite the ruling by the presiding officer. Earlier, speaking on a point of order Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani strongly protested over the alleged remarks by the federal minister during National Assembly proceedings on the same day against the Senate, where the PPP with majority is holding the opposition benches.
Rabbani said that the minister while commenting in National Assembly on a private member bill 'The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2014,' which was transmitted by the Senate remarked that the "Senate is setting a wrong tradition" by passing the bill. The PPP senator urged the presiding officer either to suspend the minister for some time or he should apologise before the Senate. He maintained that the federal minister's statement against the Senate was breach of privilege of the Upper House and the senators will not allow anyone to give disrespect to the house, which is symbol of the federation.
"Senate is symbol of the federation and the said minister [Zahid Hamid] was part of the cabinet in the past which had tried to break the federation," Rabbani remarked. He said that the bill was actually aimed at preventing the serving bureaucrats from doing dual jobs with the international organisations like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and opposing this bill in such a way to blame the Senate for "setting wrong traditions" was unfortunate.
Rabbani maintained that another, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad remarked that the Senate had passed the bill on the basis of majority of the opposition while the fact is that the bill was passed unanimously and the treasury benches also supported it.
Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Zahid Khan also strongly reacted to the minister's remarks, who also urged the presiding officer to ask the minister to immediately leave the house. "We thought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken some lesson from the past but the incompetent ministers like the "one" are actually becoming disastrous for Nawaz Sharif," he remarked.
The House also witnessed a walkout protest by the combined opposition when the presiding officer denied a supplementary question to Haji Adeel of the ANP during questions hour and soon the house was adjourned due to lack of quorum. ANP Senator Abdul Nabi Bangsh pointed out the quorum situation when the opposition benches staged a walkout leaving the presiding officer with no option but to adjourn the house when he failed to fulfil the required number necessary to keep the house in order.