ISLAMABAD, March 9: The opposition senators belonging to the Democratic Alliance on Tuesday accused the Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro of violating the Constitution and setting aside the parliamentary traditions.
Speaking at a joint press conference here, the senators belonging to the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-N, Balochistan National Party (BNP), Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and National Party condemned the Senate chairman for "killing" their resolutions and motions in his chamber.
PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani said the chairman while taking advantage of the absence of the opposition members from the House on Monday evening wrapped up the debate on the address of Gen Musharraf to the joint sitting of the parliament.
Mr Rabbani said he was to wind up the debate from the opposition side, but the chairman ended the debate after the speech of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
Justifying their walkout from the Senate, Mr Rabbani said the Senate chairman, during a meeting before the session, had assured them that the interior minister would issue a policy statement on the killing of Sindh MPA Abdullah Murad Baloch. However, the PPP senator said, the interior minister did not turn up and the chairman asked the state minister for law and parliamentary affairs Raza Hayat Hiraj to speak on behalf of the interior minister.
"How can Mr Hiraj know the events which took place in Karachi when he was not an interior minister," he said. Moreover, he said, the minister gave a wrong statement on the floor of the House that an FIR of the Murad Baloch's murder had been registered. He said no FIR had been lodged till Tuesday evening.
He said it seemed that the ministers were not ready to give due respect to the chairman. "This is not the question of the chairman himself but the privilege of the Upper House had been breached," he said.
The PPP senator said the chairman illegally killed the amendment, moved by the Democratic Alliance, to the resolution adopted at the end of the debate on the president's address.
He said the Democratic Alliance would continue to play its role as a true opposition and it would not allow the government to violate the rules. "We are not ready to be bulldozed," Mr Rabbani said, adding, "We know the methods to deal with such situations."
He said the opposition did not want to spoil the atmosphere of the Upper House. However, the PPP leader said, only the government would be responsible for any such situation.
PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar criticized the Senate chairman for not giving sufficient time to the opposition members to speak during the session. He said the chairman wasted 11 minutes in arguments with Mr Rabbani who was seeking only one more minute to speak.
Mr Dar accused the government of not following the healthy traditions set by the PPP and the PML-N governments. He also expressed his concern over the delay in appointment of standing committees and nomination of opposition leader in the Upper House.
PkMAP Senator Raza Mohammad Raza said the Senate Secretariat had become a "murder house" for the resolutions, motions and questions of the opposition members.
He also criticized the role of the Leader of the House Waseem Sajjad and held him responsible for the incidents which took place during the proceedings of the House on Monday.
The PkMAP senator also lashed out at the government for its failure to maintain law and order. He said the regime was bent upon making the country a police state. He accused the government of planning to set up a large number of police check-posts in Balochistan.
He said state agencies were involved in the killing of innocent people in Balochistan and tribal areas. BNP Senator Sanaullah Baloch said the military-led Jamali government was destroying all institutions in the country one by one.
He termed the Wana operation a state terrorism. He claimed that corruption had increased manifold in the country and accused the prime minister of making illegal appointments in the customs department.
Aslam Buledi of the National Party said that according to the eye-witnesses, most of the people had died due to firing of the police and security agencies personnel in the Quetta incident.
