A parliamentary panel Friday deferred hearing on the complaint of a disgruntled member National Assembly of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Ayesha Gulalai, pertaining to a malicious and vilified campaign against her on social media. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges, which met here at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Rana Mohammad Qasim Noon, referred the matter to its next meeting due to the absence of Ayesha Gulalai.
The committee also passed observations that all respondents on question of privileges should attend the meetings of the committee. It also unanimously decided even if any mover wishes to withdraw his/her question of privilege, the respondents should attend the meetings of the committee, and the committee would decide about the fate of the issue.
The committee also deferred hearing on question of privileges moved by MNAs Rana Mohammad Afzal Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Shazia Marri, Syed Imran Ahmed Shah and Pir Mohammad Aslam Bodla.
On the question of privilege raised by Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Shazia Marri, the committee unanimously directed the Ministry of Finance and State Bank of Pakistan to prepare a policy regarding issuance of credit cards to the parliamentarians and report to the committee within 15 days.
The committee unanimously approved the draft report on the amendments moved by Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007.
The panel also disposed of the question of privilege moved by Musarat Rafique Mahesar against the Chairman National Commission for Human Rights, former Justice Ali Nawaz Chouhan for not attending the committee meetings last year. Besides, the committee also disposed of the question of privilege moved by Sahibzada Mohammad Nazir Sultan regarding raid of police on his residence.
The committee also deferred discussion on the amendment in Rules 122 and 244 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly, 2007 moved by Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho till its next meeting.
On the issue of highlighting the names of the politicians on a private TV channel, the committee decided that the matter would be taken up by the committee when the question of privilege would be referred to it. The committee also confirmed the minutes of its previous meeting held on July 20, 2017. However, on the issue of giving new name to the new Islamabad international airport, the committee left it on the Aviation Division to decide the matter.