Opposition receives govt’s proposals : Parliamentary panel on reconstruction
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: The government has proposed a meeting between Senate’s leader of the house Wasim Sajjad and leader of the opposition Mian Raza Rabbani in response to the combined opposition’s reservations on the terms of reference (ToR) for the parliamentary committee on earthquake.
Informed sources told Dawn on Thursday that Mr Rabbani had received a letter from Mr Sajjad late on Wednesday evening and had decided to contact other parliamentary leaders of opposition political parties to take a joint position.
The combined opposition had sent the second letter to the prime minister last week, demanding replacement of serving generals with civilians as heads of the federal relief commission and earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation authority before seeking opposition’s support and participation in the said committee.
The prime minister had in response to the opposition’s ToR wrote a letter by accepting main points of terms, but without addressing the issue of replacement of serving generals.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz held a meeting with MMA’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed in the National Assembly hall to inform him that the opposition members of the parliamentary committee had been informed about government’s stand on their ToR.
Sources said, in his letter, Wasim Sajjad has said that instead of writing letters and waiting for their replies, the government and opposition should get to the job immediately.
The government is ready to allay the reservations of the opposition, but there should be a meeting between Mr Sajjad and Mr Rabbani.
No date has been given for such a meeting, the sources said, but it was perceived by the signals emanating from the two sides that the proposed meeting might be scheduled in the next couple of days when Mr Rabbani completed consultations with other opposition colleagues.
The premier said the government was trying to take the opposition along in the relief and rehabilitation work for the earthquake survivors and to make the process transparent by involving all the segments of society in the process of funds audit, check and supervision stages.
