ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved an amendment to its rules of procedure and conduct of business to provide for punishment to the members found guilty of leaking out details of in-camera proceedings of the house.

The items for amending the Senate rules had been included in the agenda as supplementary orders of the day following a decision taken at the business advisory committee of the house.

A new rule (255-A) inserted in the rules reads: “Where a member participating in any in camera proceedings, divulges or discloses any information regarding any part of the proceedings or comments or speeches or opinions expressed therein, such member or other person, as the case may be, shall be required to appear before the House Business Advisory Committee, and after being given an adequate opportunity to explain the disclosure attributed to him, may be suspended for a term not exceeding thirty consecutive sittings of the House.”

Interior minister says civilian government is not dealing with Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan

The amendment had jointly been moved by leader of the house Raja Zafarul Haq and leader of the opposition Aitzaz Ahsan.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani observed that the passage of the amendment was a legal requirement as a committee of ethics had come into being and it had legal justification or resources to act against those who act irresponsibly.

He made it clear that it had nothing to do with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s visit to the house to attend an in-camera session of the committee of the whole, but it had been going on for a long time even when he was not holding the present position.

Members belonging to different political parties from both sides of the aisle supported the amendment and noted that disclosure of details about in-camera proceedings might force many to withhold information from parliament as it was given on the basis of trust that it would not go public. “We can’t have lawmakers breaking the law,” a Senator remarked.

Earlier during the question hour, the interior minister informed the Senate that the civilian side of the government was not dealing with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and that it had no knowledge whether former TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan had claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in Pakistan.

Minister Ahsan Iqbal made this startling disclosure in reply to a question asked by Farhatullah Babar about details of public claims of responsibility by Ehsan for terrorist attacks in the country. He had also asked whether the cases registered against Ehsan would be tried in military courts.

Mr Iqbal’s reply stated (a) “Ministry of Interior referred the matter to Civilian Agencies working under its administrative control and the consolidated reply is that the issue is not dealt by them. Hence, Ministry of Interior reply may be treated as Nil.”

In reply to the part of question whether there was a petition against Ehsan, the minister said “Yes, a petition has been lodged in the Peshawar High Court by Advocate Fazal Khan, father of Sahibzada Umer Khan, a martyred student of the Army Public School, through Barrister Amirullah Khan. The respondents in this case are the federal government, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ministries of defence, human rights and law and justice, the Inter-Services Intelligence and General Headquarters of Pakistan Army.” The PHC disposed of the petition and directed the authorities not to release Ehsanullah Ehsan without court orders and investigate the case properly, he added.

The minister said: “On receiving the case and the recommendations of the home department of province, the case of Ehsanullah Ehsan will be placed before the committee constituted in the ministry of interior. If approved by the subject committee, the case will be tried in the military court.”

Talking to Dawn, Farhatullah Babar said that the minister’s replies had thrown up some disturbing questions and he would press for a full debate and laying bare all facts under relevant rules of the Senate.

He said that the interior ministry was the focal ministry for the National Action Plan and it was strange that it had no clue about one of the most wanted terrorists and the mastermind of the APC attack. The minister’s reply only went to show that there was a serious civil-military disconnect the claims of being on the same page notwithstanding. It would also raise some very disturbing questions about the fight against militancy in the country, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2018