ISLAMABAD: The standing committee of Senate on inter-provincial coordination will take up the longstanding issue of delay in the setting up of a secretariat of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) next week.

The issue was referred to the house committee on inter-provincial coordination (IPC) by Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandvi­walla during the sitting of the upper house of parliament on Dec 19 last year on the demand of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Raza Rabbani.

According to the Senate Secretariat, the Senate Standing Committee on IPC under the chairmanship of Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is set to take up the CCI secretariat issue in its meeting to be held on Feb 4.

Mr Rabbani, who as chairman of the Senate had given a ruling on the matter asking the government to immediately set up a permanent secretariat for the CCI in line with the Constitution, had again raised the matter through a calling attention notice, but he did not get a response from the government due to the absence of Federal Minister for IPC Dr Fehmida Mirza, who had informed the Senate Secretariat that she was in Karachi and going through some treatment.

Rabbani regrets failure of successive governments on the issue, terms it an attempt to sabotage Constitution

Angry over the minister’s absence, Mr Rabbani said he could not criticise the minister over her absence because of the reason she had mentioned, but added that it seemed she was running away from the issue.

When Minister of State for Parlia­mentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan said that he would contact the minister concerned and would respond on her behalf, Mr Rabbani objected to the suggestion, saying that Mr Khan would not be able to answer some of the facts that he would be bringing out on the issue.

Mr Rabbani regretted failure of the successive governments in setting up the CCI secretariat and termed it an attempt to “sabotage and circumvent” the Constitution.

Leader of the House Shibli Faraz said that in principle, he agreed to concerns raised by Mr Rabbani, saying when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was in the opposition, it had also been raising the matter with other opposition parties. He said since the matter was important, they should defer the issue and let the minister respond to it, adding that “we are with you and I don’t know what different (thing) the minister would say”.

Mr Rabbani was of the view that the issue would not be settled through a mere calling attention notice and it should be referred to the committee. He said a lot of work had already been done by various committees and a previous report of the standing committee on IPC had already suggested ways and means for the setting up of the CCI and to make it functional.

The PPP leader alleged that though the Prime Minister Office had been supporting the idea, the Ministry of Finance had been creating hurdles in the way of establishment of the CCI secretariat.

Mr Faraz supported the demand of Mr Rabbani to refer the matter to the committee, stating that he wanted to clarify that the government was not opposed to the idea of setting up the CCI secretariat.

In one of the meetings of the standing committee on IPC during the previous government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2016, the then minister for IPC Riaz Hussain Pirzada had reportedly stated that despite a ruling of the then Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani and a court order, he did not know why the government was reluctant to set up a permanent secretariat of the CCI.

The government is bound, by Article 154(3) of the Constitution, to set up a permanent secretariat of the CCI with equal representation from all provinces.

According to the IPC working paper presented to the committee, the cabinet had decided in principle to establish a permanent CCI secretariat by Dec 15, 2016.

Despite repeated attempts, IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza could not be contacted for her comments.

Parliamentary Secretary for IPC Syma Nadeem, when contacted, said that the minister had already had a meeting last month on the issue. She, however, refused to speak on the matter, saying the minister would be in a better position to explain the actual situation.

HOCKEY: The Senate committee will also discuss the “state of hockey game” in the country.

According to the agenda of the Feb 4 meeting, the officials of the Pakistan Hockey Federation would apprise the committee members “on reasons of poor performance of the Pakistan hockey team in the Hockey World Cup 2018”.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2019