ISLAMABAD: The National Health Services (NHS) Secretary Aamir Ashraf Khawaja will face a privilege motion, moved by the Senate Standing Committee on NHS on Thursday, due to his absence from the committee’s last three meetings without giving any prior notice to members.

Senator Khushbakht Shujat, who is chairperson of the committee along with other members Bahramand Khan Tangi, Dr Sikander Mandhro, Dr Ghous Mohammad Khan Niazi, Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, Sana Jamali, Mohammad Javed Abbasi and Sardar Mohammad Shafiq Tareen gathered at the Parliament House to attend the meeting while Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Dr Faisal Sultan and the health secretary were not present.

“We discuss here a number of important issues regarding health but it is unfortunate that the SAPM and secretary did not bother to attend the meeting. We leave our constituencies to attend the meetings. Moreover I had to be in Karachi as the city has been suffering due to rains but I came here to attend the meeting,” Ms Shujaat said.

Senator Tareen said that the attitude of the health secretary was unacceptable and an insult to the parliament.

“Ministry of Health is not taking the parliament seriously.

People come here from far flung areas. I want to ask that if officials of the ministry are more busy than the public representatives. I suggest that a show cause notice should be issued to the health secretary,” he added.

Members of the committee decided to postpone the meeting and move a privilege motion against Mr Khawaja, who failed to inform the committee about his absence.

According to the privilege motion moved by the committee, which is available with Dawn, a meeting of the committee was scheduled on Aug 27, 2020 but both the minister and the NHS secretary were absent without any intimation.

Members of the committee were infuriated by their absence and decided to postpone the meeting without any proceedings.

“It is important to state here that the secretary of the concerned ministry has not attended the last three meetings of the committee consecutively without intimation.

The absence of the secretary has marred the proceedings of the committee for quite some time. The continuous absence of the secretary from committee meetings constitutes a breach of privilege of the committee and the Senate. It is, therefore, requested that the said Privilege Motion may be held in order and referred to the Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges,” it stated.

The privilege motion, signed by the committee’s chairperson, was handed over to the committee secretary for submission in the Senate Secretariat.

In Jan 2019, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq from the PML-N, was elected as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.

The seat had become vacant since the death of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party Senator Saradar Azam Khan Musakhel, who passed away in Karachi.

Ms Farooq, while talking to the press, had said that she would make all possible efforts to run the committee more effectively and all the decisions would be made above party line.

“It is a very powerful and important committee and breach of privilege of senators would not be tolerated at all.

Moreover I would ensure that the conflicts and issues, sent to the committee, would be dealt fairly,” she said.

Mr Khawaja could not be reached, despite a number of attempts.

The ministry’s spokesperson, however, said that he was busy due to continuous developments regarding Covid-19.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2020