ISLAMABAD, April 4: Members of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) have submitted a privilege motion to the National Assembly Secretariat against the Cabinet Division for issuing a circular barring parliamentarians from directly contacting the Indian High Commission.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi said the motion had been moved under Rule-78 of the Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 1993 and it had been signed by 16 opposition members belonging to the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Referring Rule 56(1) of the Rules of Business, 1993, the Cabinet Division through a circular, on March 6 stated that senior public figures, parliamentarians and government functionaries should not communicate with Indian High Commission in Islamabad. “The above-referred rule does not restrict the parliamentarians as the rules have been made for the government functionaries and the elected representatives do not come under this category”, says the motion.

“The Cabinet Division has, therefore, breached the privilege of the parliamentarians who are the elected representatives of the people by directing them not to communicate directly to the foreign mission. It is a matter of breach of privilege and it should immediately be referred to the Privilege Committee for necessary action.”

The motion has been signed by Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Naheed Khan, Sherry Rehman, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Khalid Iqbal Memon, Syed Naveed Qamar, Chaudhry Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Fauzia Wahab, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Nawab Yusuf Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Satti of the PPP and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pervez Malik and Khwaja Mohammad Asif of the PML-N.