ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) will submit a privilege motion against National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain for constituting a parliamentary committee on water resources “in violation of rules”.

This was stated by parliamentary leader of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) in the Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, while speaking to a group of newsmen at the party’s media centre here on Saturday.

The motion would be submitted by Tuesday, he said.

Mr Rabbani said the party was also considering a similar motion in the Senate against Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro and leader of the house Wasim Sajjad for endorsing the formation of the body and its terms of reference through a resolution.

He condemned the government for deceiving the opposition and the nation by not mentioning the resolution, presented by Wasim Sajjad and passed by the house after the opposition’s walkout, in the order of the day on Friday.

Mr Rabbani said the legal experts of the party were considering the privilege motions against the Senate chief for allowing Wasim Sajjad to present the resolution, and against the leader of the house for presenting it after suspending the rules.

The PPP senator termed the committee, constituted by the speaker, illegal and unconstitutional, and said that under the Constitution, the Council of Common Interests was responsible to deal with the water issues.

He said that by bringing this resolution to the Senate, the government had vindicated the position of the PPP that the parliamentary body, constituted through a notification on Oct 10, 2003, was illegal and unconstitutional.

“This belated resolution of the Senate does not exonerate the speaker and cannot provide legitimacy to his act,” he said, adding that this resolution was an admission on the part of the government that the speaker had acted contrary to the rules and abused his powers.

Mr Rabbani said: “I put on notice all government functionaries of the National Assembly and Senate secretariats not to aid and support functioning of the committee. Any orders of the committee, carried out by the officials, and any expenditure incurred would be illegal and in violation of the rules.”