ISLAMABAD: The Senate passed on Thursday a resolution “urging the government to comply with the constitutional provisions concerning the Council of Common Interests (CCI), especially regular holding of its meetings” and “timely submission of its reports to parliament”.

Backed by opposition parties, the resolution was moved by Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq.

During a debate on Tuesday, Senators criticised the government for not convening its regular meetings.

The two-page resolution also calls upon the government to “ensure holding of population census as soon as possible but well before the next general elections”.

It asked the government to include the issues of construction of water reservoirs and the Chine-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the CCI agenda.

It recommended that “the public debt management and its implications should be supervised at the CCI forum”.

The resolution recommended that the “CCI should take up with the provinces the issue of absorption of the federal government employees of the devolved ministries after the 18th Constitution Amendment”.

Without elaborating, it urges the CCI “to devise a mechanism of accountability”.

The Senate reiterated that the final agenda of the CCI meetings should be brought into the knowledge of parliament as well as provincial assemblies before every CCI meeting.

OKARA FARMS: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, on a request from PPP’s Farhatullah Babar, referred the issue of the alleged use of “brute force” against peasants of Okara military farms to the house committee on human rights.

The issue was raised by Mr Babar while taking part in a debate on an adjournment motion on “ineffective mechanism and lack of oversight by the government to protect the interest of millions of wheat growers”.

The PPP senator said the farmers were suffering and the agricultural sector was facing a decline because the state’s “callous attitude” towards peasants.

“The state has not only neglected the farming community but is also doing nothing to stop the powerful sections from dispossessing farmers from their land,” he said.

Mr Babar said Okara peasants only wanted to highlight their grievances by observing the International Peasants Day on April 17, but the state fearing that it would expose how their lands were being grabbed retaliated by arresting unarmed villagers and charging them with terrorism.

“It is sad that anti-terror laws have been used to stifle dissent and curb farmers’ voice,” he said. “If the anti-terror laws have been pressed against the villagers there is serious apprehension that the farmers may even be tried in military courts.”

He said his apprehensions were based on reports that the general secretary of the Anjuman Mazareen Punjab had been shifted from Sahiwal jail to a military cantonment.

FARMERS’ INTERESTS: Through a motion, PTI’s Azam Swati asked the government to take measures for protection of farmers’ interests. He said small farmers were being forced to sell their crop

at a rate lower than the support price fixed by the government.

Winding up the debate, Minister for National Food Security Sikandar Hayat Bosan admitted that the agriculture sector had been in bad state and small farmers had been suffering due to increase in production cost. He expressed his inability to remove general sales tax on fertilisers imposed by the previous PPP government.

The minister said he had been trying that the next budget should contain some pro-agriculture steps. He held the provinces mainly responsible for the poor state of affairs in the agriculture sector.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2016