ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday came under severe criticism in the Senate for allegedly turning the Council of Common Interests (CCI) into a dormant institution by not convening its meetings regularly, thus causing unrest among smaller provinces.

Taking part in a discussion on the annual reports of the CCI for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15, senators from across the divide expressed serious concerns over the failure of the government to fulfil a constitutional requirement under which it is bound to convene the CCI meeting at least once in 90 days.

Some of the senators termed it a “serious violation” of the Constitution which, according to them, was weakening the federation.

The members also lashed out at the government for putting the issue of census on the backburner and not finalising a new National Finance Commission (NFC) award for the provinces.

It was for the first time since start of the current Senate session that the opposition members participated in its proceedings, after ending their boycott over the prime minister’s absence from the parliament.

At the end of the debate, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said the CCI was the “heart of the federation” in any democratic system.

“If the heart will not be allowed to function properly, then certainly the body will have to be put on a ventilator,” he said, directing the government to make the CCI functional in order to make the smaller federating units realise that they are part of the federation.

Meanwhile, members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) staged a walkout from the house in protest against the death of party activist Aftab Ahmed in Rangers’ custody and shortage of water in Karachi.

Speaking on a “matter of public importance”, MQM’s Tahir Mashhadi called for a judicial probe into the killing of the party worker.

Debate on CCI

Initiating the debate on the CCI reports, Azam Swati of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) read out Article 154(3) of the Constitution which says “the Council shall have a permanent secretariat and shall meet at least once in 90 days”.

He regretted that the CCI had met only four times in the last three years.

Sassui Palejo of the Pakistan People’s Party asked the government to announce a new date for conducting census in the country. She said the ruling party did not care for the constitutional institutions which was evident from the fact that the prime minister convened the meeting of the federal cabinet after a gap of seven months and that too due to the emergence of the Panama leaks issue.

The vocal senator from Sindh alleged that the PML-N government was not ready to listen to the grievances of the smaller provinces.

An independent senator sitting on the treasury benches, Mohsin Leghari, criticised the prime minister for not coming to the Senate. “His absence from this house is not a good omen for the federation,” he added.

Mr Leghari suggested abolition of Article 154(3) from the Constitution, if the government could not implement it.

Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) asked the Senate chairman to direct the government through his ruling to convene a meeting of the CCI soon, saying that otherwise the government would not call it till 2018.

Ruling party Senator Javed Abbasi acknowledged that the CCI was not being given due attention, but said criticism only of the federal government was “unjustified”.

He said the Constitution provided a mechanism under which a province could also requisition CCI meetings.

PPP’s Babar Awan said it was unfortunate that the federal budget was about to be presented without finalisation of the NFC award. Similarly, he said, the country was heading towards general elections without holding of census first.

PkMAP Senator Azam Musakhel called for placing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project on the CCI agenda. He was of the view that the delay in holding a census on the pretext of presence of Afghan refugees in the country was not justified.

Veteran PPP Senator Taj Haider said the Sindh chief minister had written four letters to the prime minister with a request to convene the CCI meeting, but he did not get any response.

Winding up the debate, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada informed the Senate that the CCI would soon have a permanent secretariat on the premises of the ministry and a summary in this regard had already been sent to the prime minister.

He praised the senators for taking interest in the CCI issue and said that the Senate had become a “CCI regulatory body”.

He admitted that the government had convened the previous CCI meeting after the Senate chairman’s ruling on the matter.

The minister assured the house that the census, which had been delayed for a few months due to the ongoing military operation in the tribal areas, would soon be held in the country.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2016