ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: The Senate on Monday called for greater transparency in relief operations in Balochistan and providing prompt assistance to earthquake-affected people.

At a meeting of the Senate business advisory committee, a number of senators from Balochistan referred to reports about sale of relief items in the open market and said that a Senate team should visit the quake-affected areas.

Leader of the House Mian Raza Rabbani said that although a parliamentary oversight might be necessary, the Senate “must not give an impression that something was being imposed from above.

He suggested that periodic briefings might be arranged for Senators by relief agencies.

Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro and members of the committee said that efforts to expedite relief work must be carried out in coordination with the provincial government.

They hoped that the people as well as national organisations and the civil society would demonstrate the same spirit as was witnessed after the October 8, 2005 earthquake to alleviate the sufferings of the affected people.

The meeting also stressed the need for supporting the government to enable it to negotiate a good bailout package with the IMF.

It observed that the government would be in a better position to secure favourable terms if it took parliamentarians into confidence.

They decided to stand by the government in its bid to steer the country out of current economic difficulties.

A number of senators suggested that there should be a discussion on the rationale for privatising some units.

The meeting was attended by Senate’s Deputy Chairman, Jan Mohammad Jamali, Leader of the Opposition Kamil Ali Agha and Senators Ishaq Dar, Prof Khurshid Ahmad, Dr Mohammad Ismael Buledi, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel, Shahid Hasan Bugti, Mohammad Anwar Bhinder, Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, Justice (retd) Abdul Razzaq Thahim, Dr Abdul Malik, Mir Israrullah Zehri, Anisazeb Tahirkheli, Ratna Chawla, Saadia Abbasi, Abdul Raziq Khan and Maulana Samiul Haq.