ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on Friday denied fellow cabinet member Fawad Chaudhry’s claim that the cabinet at its meeting a day earlier had expressed annoyance over the Senate chairman’s ruling and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s quote that nobody had the right to humiliate ministers.

While the clarification was welcomed by the opposition, it raised many questions and prompted dem­ands for action against Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry for misleading the nation, misquoting the PM and spreading disinformation about the cabinet proceedings.

Mr Chaudhry in a media briefing on Thursday had announced that the cabinet had expressed annoyance over the ban placed by the Senate chairman on his participation in the ongoing session of the upper house of parliament unless he tendered an apology for chiding top opposition leaders by name. He also quoted Prime Minister Imran Khan as saying “nobody had the right to humiliate ministers like this”.

Opposition in Senate demands action against information minister for wrong account of cabinet proceedings

Asserting that democracy was the way forward, the minister for parliamentary affairs said, “We definitely are inexperienced, but are not a severed kite.” Parliament would stay and “those hurling threats at parliament” would cease to exist, he said, adding that there were no cracks in parliament but in the ranks of the foes of democracy.

The issue was raised in the house by former chairman of the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, who said forces of popular fascism wanted to destroy democratic institutions functioning under the Constitution. “Very few of us will be able to come out of the debris if parliament crumbles,” he warned.

Referring to the briefing on the cabinet proceedings, Mr Rabbani said the Senate chairman’s ruling apparently evoked a strong reaction from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government. The PPP stalwart said some remarks had also been attributed to the Prime Minister. However, he said: “I will give the benefit of the doubt to the Prime Minister.”

He noted that the chair’s rulings had not even been questioned during dictatorial regimes. He said it had indirectly been threatened that the cabinet ministers could boycott the Senate and asserted that the cabinet, together with ministers of state, was collectively responsible to parliament under Article 90 (6) of the Constitution.

He recalled that Mr Chaudhry also remarked that the Senate chairman was not directly elected like himself. He said the chairman held a constitutional office and the procedure for his election was defined in the Constitution. He said the President of Pakistan was also indirectly elected and the chief executive after his election as member of the National Assembly was indirectly elected as Prime Minister. “Casting aspersions on the custodian of the house has never happened before,” he added.

He also objected to the PTI minister’s remarks that a hue and cry was raised in the Senate whenever the government talked about corruption. “The people you talk about are in the dock. How can you raise in the house the matters which are sub judice?” he questioned, asking if corruption was confined to some specific parties only.

Calling for across-the-board accountability of all, including the judiciary and the civil and military bureaucracy, the former Senate chairman proposed a federal accountability commission having representation of all stakeholders with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) working under it.

He asserted that the witch-hunt must be brought to an end and said the proposed commission should decide about references.

Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) also endorsed the views expressed by the opposition party leader.

PPP parliamentary leader Sherry Rehman also welcomed the statement made by the minister for the parliamentary affairs but said the cabinet should take proper action against the information minister. “The Senate had already taken the required action and now we want to see an action from the executive,” she demanded.

Maula Bux Chandio said if the Prime Minister had not spoken against the Senate chairman ruling during the cabinet meeting, an action must be taken against the information minister.

IMF terms

Meanwhile, Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati assured the house that parliament would be taken into confidence over the terms and conditions agreed upon by the government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loan.

Earlier, Ms Rehman had questioned the government for shrouding its negotiations with the IMF. “In one week of requisition and another week of normal session, I have submitted two calling attention notices and one adjournment motion on the IMF. Nothing was communicated in writing and I could be wrong but we were informally told that the instruments cannot be admitted, because the IMF team was in town and the terms were not settled yet. This has never happened in the past even when IMF teams were visiting.”

She said talks were held between the IMF and Pakistan and the whole world was talking about it, yet the opposition had no right to ask about the terms of the negotiation? The IMF was making headlines. The rupee was declining, current account deficit had widened by 34 per cent and yet taxes were being levied to collect more than Rs160 billion, she said.

“Why can’t we take on this urgent and critical matter openly in the Senate? It is the Senate’s right to ask questions and it is the government’s responsibility to answer,” the former opposition leader in Senate insisted.

The session was later prorogued sine die.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2018