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| December 6, 2005 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 3, 1426 |
Opposition withdraws privilege motions
ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: Opposition members on Monday staged a walkout from the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Business and Privileges to condemn the attitude of the police and the Punjab government and withdrew their privilege motions in protest.
Opposition Leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani, Senator Dr Safdar Abbassi and Senator Dr Akbar Khawaja, the movers of the motions, were of the view that the report submitted by the police officials and the Punjab government on their motions was not “properly worded.”
Moreover, the movers said, the officials of the Punjab police, responsible for the breach of their privilege, were absent and they were not taking the matter seriously.
The privilege motions were moved by the three senators against the Punjab police officials and the provincial home secretary for allegedly maltreating them on April 16, this year, when they were going to Lahore Airport to receive PPP leader Asif Zardari who was arriving from Dubai.
According to an official handout, after the opposition senators’ walkout, the committee decided to dispose of the matter as the movers had withdrawn the motions.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the Ministry for Housing and Works tendered an apology to PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar for giving wrong information to the Senate earlier that he was allotted a plot in Islamabad under the directives of the prime minister.
The privilege motion had arisen out of information placed before the Senate on November 15 in reply to a question. According to which Senator Farhatullah Babar was also listed among the 480 persons, who had been given plots in I-8/4 sector of Islamabad in 1996 under the special quota and special scheme. The Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro had referred the matter to the privileges committee when Mr Babar challenged the list and said that he had never got a plot under special quota.
In the meeting, the official of the Housing and Works Ministry admitted that Mr Babar had refused to accept the offer of a plot in I-8/4 sector of Islamabad. He had declined the offer of plot on the ground that he already owned a house in Islamabad and did not need a plot in the federal capital and that the plot offered to him be given to some other deserving person, the Senate committee was told.
A copy of the allotment letter and the letter by Mr Babar, the then press assistant to the prime minister, declining the offer were also placed on the record of the committee.
“The ministry tenders unconditional apology for causing embarrassment to the honourable senator Farhatullah Babar at the floor of the House,” said the ministry’s written statement before the committee. The ministry official further said that action was being taken against the person who had committed the mistake.
Mr Babar accepted the explanation and apology and said since it was a mistake he asked that no action should be taken against the officer found guilty of negligence.
The committee appreciated the gesture and decided that an unconditional apology would be tendered on the floor of the House for causing embarrassment to the senator.
The committee meeting was presided over by the chairman, Prof Saeed Siddiqui and attended by Federal Minister for Local Government Justice (Retd) Abdul Razzaq Thahim and Minister of State for Interior Shahzad Wasim and senators Raza Rabbani, Asfandyar Wali, Dr Ismail Buledi, Kamil Ali Agha, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Naeem Chattha and Farhatullah Babar. Senior officers of the ministry of housing and works, the IG Punjab and officials of the Punjab government also attended the meeting.
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