ISLAMABAD: The Senate will not have a private members’ day on Monday (today) to allow the senators to have a formal debate on the Dec 16 terrorist attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS).

According to the one-point agenda issued by the Senate Secretariat, the senators will hold a “discussion on the incident of attack by terrorists on Army Public School in Peshawar” during the session starting on Monday afternoon after a two-day recess.

The debate will be held through a unanimously-agreed motion under Rule 218 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012.

Under Rule 24, on a private members’ day any legislator can individually move bills, resolutions, amendments and other motions.

The debate will be held under Rule 218 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012

On the opening day of the Senate’s winter session on Friday, members had decided to suspend the normal business and adjourn the proceedings in honour of those killed in the monstrous attack on the APS after passage of a resolution.

Through the unanimously adopted resolution, the Senate “expressed its firm resolve to destroy the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militants to preserve, protect and defend the Pakistani way of life”.

The upper house of parliament not only condemned the barbaric attack that left at least 148 people, mostly schoolchildren, dead, it also observed that militants were posing an existential threat to Pakistan and, therefore, there was a need for ideological clarity and complete unity.

The house reaffirmed that the antithesis of terrorism, sectarianism and religious extremism was a strong, viable and delivering democracy functioning under the 1973 Constitution.

Published in Dawn December 22th , 2014