ISLAMABAD: In an unusual development, outgoing Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla and two other opposition senators raised with a top European Union envoy in Pakistan the “issue of deaths in the NAB custody.”
The development transpired at the meeting between the three senators and EU Ambassador to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara, at the Parliament House.
“Deputy Chairman Senate, and Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq and Rana Maqbool raised the issue of deaths in the NAB custody. They also emphasized that there shall be proper amendments in the NAB laws,” said a press release by Senate Secretariat issued after the meeting.
The deputy chairman Senate, the press release said, “thanked EU on the GSP plus issue and said that business community of the two sides needs to be brought together, it is also evident that the trade between both the countries is substantively low.”
The EU ambassador, according to the Senate Secretariat, “agreed with the views of deputy chairman Senate and emphasized for more cooperation and institutional linkages.”
She said that the next seven-year cooperation plan was being prepared in this regard and EU wanted to carry out consultation sessions with all the stakeholders including political leadership of the country.
Last month, Senate met on a requisition moved by 34 senators, led by deputy chairman Senate, to take up motion against National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for ‘egregious human rights violations’ and other serious allegations levelled by Mandviwalla against NAB.
The opposition senators delivered critical speeches against NAB but no concrete action was taken and the motion was simply talked out.
Also, last month, NAB filed a reference against Mandviwalla in Plots Allotment case. The accountability watchdog is also probing Fake Accounts case against the deputy chairman Senate. Mandviwalla is among the 52 senators retiring on the coming March 11 after completing their six-year term at the Senate.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Wednesday, announced to issue Senate elections’ schedule on the coming Thursday (February 11).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021