15 July 2004	Thursday	26 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD July 14: The opposition in the Senate on Wednesday demanded of the government to declare its policy on sending troops to Iraq, and take the upper house into confidence about talks with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Speaking on a point of order, PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani said it would be better to wrap up parliament if the government continued to bypass it while taking decisions.

"This house must be briefed whether there was a condition of sending Pakistani troops attached to the appointment of (Pakistan ambassador to US) Qazi Jehangir Ashraf as UN envoy in Baghdad and whether the Armitage visit to Islamabad has any link with it," he said.

Responding in the absence of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Senate Chairman Wasim Sajjad said it was up to the Foreign Office to decide which information it could share with the house and what could not be made public.

"This is not the first visit of Mr Armitage as he is a frequent visitor to Islamabad and it is not necessary that every detail is made public," he said. Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq defended the raise in fares by PIA during Haj, saying the national flag-carrier was committed to flying the pilgrims on a no-profit no-loss basis.

He said up to 20 per cent raise in Haj fares was subject to review, and the total package for Haj would remain almost the same as it was last year. He said that despite the 20 per cent raise, PIA would lose Rs140 million in total expenditures due to the higher cost of petroleum products.

As far as the PIA monopoly in carrying Haj pilgrims was concerned, he said it was due to an agreement between the airline and Saudi authorities that could be terminated only by Saudi consent.

Earlier, the opposition agitated over raise in fares and demanded of the government to waive the ban on families taking children along with them for the Haj. The opposition also protested against the deportation of 110 Umra pilgrims on July 12 and demanded that the government immediately send them to Saudi Arabia at its own expenses.

Maulana Samiul Haq of MMA said it was strange that none of the recommendations forwarded by the Senate House Committee on Religious Affairs were accommodated in the new Haj Policy.

He justified his acceptance of the chairmanship of the committee and criticised fellow opposition members for leaving the field free for the treasury members by refusing to be chairmen of house committees.

PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar raised the issue of deportation of 10 Pakistani students from Cyprus on suspicion they allegedly had links with Al Qaeda. He asked the government to take up the issue with the Cyprus authorities as well as the United Nations to ensure that no such difficulties were posed to other Pakistanis living abroad.