ISLAMABAD: While the Senate now stands prorogued, Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani skipped all but one meeting of the 345th session that came to an end on Tuesday, in reported protest against the non-implementation, on part of the government, of the production order of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Ejaz Chaudhary the Senate chief had issued earlier.

The Senate chairman only chaired the first meeting, held 14 January, of the recently concluded Senate session, and remained absent in the remaining seven meetings.

Although, nothing official came from the Senate Secretariat regarding Gilani’s absence, reports suggest that the Senate chairman was “unhappy” over the non-implementation of the production order of the PTI senator he had issued ahead of the Senate’s 345th session.

Some reports indicate that federal and Punjab governments had assured the Senate Chief that the production order would be implemented— but both the governments later backtracked— due to the intervention of some “powerful” quarters that did not want Chaudhary to appear in the Senate.

Gilani’s, decision not to attend the Senate meeting has met criticism from both the treasury and the opposition lawmakers.

In their off-the-record interactions with journalists on the sidelines of the Senate session, some lawmakers from the two sides of the aisle were generally of the view that the chairman Senate displayed a “passive” approach by failing to get his instructions implemented by the Executive.

“Instead of skipping the Senate meetings, the chairman Senate should have registered his protest in a powerful manner—by having the government officials summoned by the relevant Senate committee, and assigning this matter to that panel,” said a treasury senator.

“He (Gilani) is the custodian of the house. He should have acted in a way that upholds the dignity of the house. Instead, he undermined the Senate’s dignity by vanishing from the scene,” remarked an opposition lawmaker.

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 chairperson(s) of the Senate committee(s) have the powers to summon any government functionary.

Rule 158(2) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 reads that a chairman of committee may call or summon any government functionary or other than the minister concerned with the prior approval of the chairman Senate.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025