ISLAMABAD, May 24: Opposition members of the Senate standing committee on defence walked out of a meeting of the committee when its chairman, Nisar Memon, barred the media from covering the committee’s proceedings here on Tuesday. Mr Memon stuck to his guns for not allowing the media access to the defence committee meeting as the opposition reiterated its demand for greater transparency in the committee proceedings.

Senators Rukhsana Zuberi and Farhatullah Babar of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) staged the token walkout to protest what they called “the undemocratic attitude” of Mr Memon, a former information minister.

Senator Farhatullah Babar later told the media that Mr Memon’s action belied the claims by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Gen Musharraf that the government was pursuing policies of transparency and good governance.

When asked what made the committee chairman to shut the doors of the meeting on the media, the opposition said there was no compulsion on Mr Memon except that the government did not want the media to know the facts as revealed before the committee. There was a strong case for the press to be present because the issue before the meeting involved questions of transparency and had nothing to do with national security, the oft cited reason for disallowing media to witness the defence committee meetings, he added.

Senator Babar said according to Senate Rules 1988, the proceedings of the committee mirrored the proceedings of the Senate and hence the meetings should be ipso facto open to media.

Senator Rukhsana Zuberi said media professionals were as patriotic Pakistanis as anyone else. Many other committees, including the sensitive foreign affairs committee, the interior and the Public Accounts Committees had been open to media, she pointed out. She said the attitude of Mr Memon in keeping the media out of the defence committee meeting was undemocratic to say the least.

When contacted for his views on media access to senate defence committee, Media adviser of a private organization, Matiullah Jan, cited the recent US Congress committee hearing into the Abu Gharaib prison abuses which showed that uniformed American generals appeared before the public representatives and the proceedings were shown live by television networks. By allowing media to witness the committee proceedings, the elected representatives can draw strength, he said, adding that “excluding media from the proceedings amounts to surrender to the establishment and those forces which are accountable to no one.”