ISLAMABAD: The Sindh chief secretary continues to defy the Senate privileges committee by not appearing, before it despite being summoned to three meetings.

The Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges considers matters regarding the procedure and conduct of business in the house and deals with motions moved by the members of the house in cases where their privilege has been breached.

The top Sindh bureaucrat has been summoned to explain the breach of privilege of Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, during his visit to Karachi in Sept 2017 in his capacity as acting president.

During Friday’s proceedings, committee members decided once again to request the Sindh chief secretary to attend its next meeting. However, Karachi Commissioner Ijaz Khan , who was on hand, claimed that he was not aware of the arrival of the acting president, which was why he could not come to the airport to receive him.

The issue arose when Chairman Rabbani was not given the protocol according to the president of Pakistan visited when he visited Karachi in September last year. During earlier committee meetings, Sindh police had claimed that since President Mamnoon Hussain has refused protocol for himself, this was why protocol was not provided to Mr Rabbani at the occasion of his arrival.

The meeting, chaired by Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini, decided to hear out the Sindh chief secretary, who did not return repeated calls. In addition, the body will also hear from the Sindh DG protocol who received the acting president in Karachi, as well as the Senate chairman’s protocol staff.

The committee also discussed another privilege motion, moved by Senator Azam Khan Swati, over the non-provision of relevant documents relating to development work carried out by Pak-PWD in NA-21 Hazara Division since 2013.

The mover told the meeting that he had received all documents, except those concerning Torghar and certain other areas. The committee will discuss the contents of the documents once the remaining lists are provided and all paperwork can be scrutinised in more detail.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018