ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has convened a session of the upper house of parliament to meet on Dec 30.

The opposition had submitted a fresh requisition on Monday after the Senate Secretariat returned its earlier requisition notice filed on Dec 16 while raising objection to the inclusion in the agenda of a privilege motion of Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla against officials of the National Accountability Bureau and two resolutions against NAB.

The requisitioned session is expected to be stormy because it is taking place amidst heightened political temperature. It will be the first Senate session after the opposition threatened to resign from parliament and hold a march on Islamabad.

The opposition had sought a Senate session to discuss inquiries and alleged harassment at the hands of NAB. It also wanted to have a discussion on the reported arrest of workers of the component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, the recent Gilgit-Baltistan elections and the ongoing electricity and gas crises.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq told Dawn that the fresh requisition was submitted after the previous one had been returned by the Senate secretariat. He said the discussion on NAB’s performance was on top of the revised agenda submitted to the Senate secretariat.

The move to requisition the Senate session was initiated by Mr Mandviwalla who had recently accused NAB of committing serious human rights violations and vowed to get it included among the internationally blacklisted organisations.

Mr Mandviwalla had claimed that a number of people had either died in NAB custody or committed suicide after receiving notices from the accountability watchdog.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2020