ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Walid Iqbal, in his capacity as Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, has written to Secretary Senate Qasim Samad Khan for the issuance of production order of PTI Senator Falak Naz, also a member of the said human rights panel, for the committee’s upcoming meeting on Monday.
Naz, along with other party leaders, was arrested by the Islamabad Police on Thursday when they were protesting against party chief and former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest.
“I am informed that a member of the committee, Senator Falak Naz, is currently being held in custody on the charge of an offence, or under a law relating to preventive detention, details whereof are not presently available to me,” Iqbal’s letter to the secretary Senate reads.
“Be that as it may, as Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, acting under Rule 84(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 (as amended to date), I do hereby summon Senator Falak Naz to attend the aforesaid committee meeting on 15th May 2023, because I consider her presence necessary for the reason that the main agenda item to be taken up in that meeting relates to alleged systematic and continuous sexual harassment of female employees in an international non-governmental organisation, and maximum possible participation of women senators in the meeting will be of utmost importance,” the letter reads.
The Rule 84(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 provides that the Senate chairman or chairman of a committee may summon a member in custody on the charge of any offence or under any law relating to preventive detention to attend a sitting or sittings of the Senate or meeting of a committee –of which they are a member of— if he considers their presence necessary.
The committee chairman, through the letter, has asked the secretary Senate to issue the production order in terms of Rule 84(2) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012.
This rule provides that on a production order, signed by the secretary or by any other officer authorised by the chairman in this behalf, addressed to the federal government or the provincial government where the member is held in custody, or to the authority having custody of the member, the federal government or the provincial government or the relevant authority shall produce before the relevant Senate till the sitting or the meeting is concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023