ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Senate staged a token walkout on Friday to protest against spending public money to fund a media campaign for defending the prime minister against charges in the Panamagate scam. They said it was an attempt to influence the judiciary.

The protesting senators gathered around Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani’s rostrum and shouted slogans demanding registration of an FIR against the prime minister for spending public money for personal motives. They then staged a walkout.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said the people expected the Supreme Court to adopt the same strict standards for Nawaz Sharif as it had adopted in the case of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

He termed the advertisement campaign an attempt to influence the judiciary, adding that the ads began with the phrase “let us hold the PM accountable” and then recounted his accomplishments.

Senator Taj Haider slammed the government for its crackdown on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers.

Apparently questioning the apex court’s authority to form a judicial commission, he said the courts had taken away the parliament’s powers to legislate. “It is our Constitutional right to demand that the prime minister clear himself of all doubt,” he remarked.

Several members of the house condemned the government for allowing a banned outfit to hold a rally in Islamabad where Section 144 had been imposed.

Winding up the discussion, Minister of State for Interior Affairs Baleeghur Rahman said the government believed in political freedom and had allowed parties to hold public rallies. He said that the government had acted in accordance with the law to prevent a lockdown of Islamabad.

He said the authorities had seized weapons from the vehicle of a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister. He rejected claims that those were licensed weapons and said that no licence had been produced so far. “Other illicit items were also recovered from his car in the presence of media. Why did he run away if he wasn’t doing something illegal?”

Mr Rahman said it was the government’s constitutional responsibility to stop the protesters from locking down the federal capital. “Not doing so would have been criminal negligence on the government’s part,” he said.

At the outset of the proceedings, Chairman Raza Rabbani observed that the Senate was the appropriate forum for an inquiry against Senator Pervaiz Rashid, if it was needed at all.

He said the judiciary tried its judges under Article 209 in the Supreme Judicial Council, military officers under respective acts of the three services and inquiries against civil servants were held by the bureaucracy under the Civil Establishment Code. “Pervaiz Rashid is a senator and if an inquiry against him is required it could be carried out by the Senate’s ethics committee,” he remarked.

Welcoming Mr Rashid in the Senate, Mr Rabbani told him that he was not alone and that the entire house stood with him.

Responding to a request for information on the names of people and companies that had obtained loans of over Rs5 million over the past five years, and details of loans written off, the National Bank of Pakistan said this was private information. The bank said it could not disclose the names under law and that the house had been misled by merging two provisions of different laws.

Mr Rabbani responded by saying that there was no information that could be withheld from parliament.

Published in Dawn November 5th, 2016