ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: Leaders of opposition parties said on Thursday they had agreed on the ‘broad principles’ on the basis of which the terms of reference for a government-proposed parliamentary committee on earthquake relief and rehabilitation would be prepared.
Talking to reporters after a meeting in the chamber of Opposition Leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani, the opposition leaders said that Mr Rabbani had proposed a draft of the terms of reference and all the parties had agreed in principle on it. However, they said, the draft would be given a final shape in a day or two.
Besides Raza Rabbani of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), the meeting was attended by chairman of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) president Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, acting parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and chief of Awami National Party Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and Abdul Rauf Mengal of the Balochistan National Party were not present at the meeting.
The opposition leaders said they would submit their proposals to the prime minister in a couple of days and then the ball would be in the government’s court. They said that any future decision on the issue of participation in the parliamentary committee meeting would be taken after the government’s response on their ToR.
Mr Rabbani said the ToR would be prepared keeping in view the basic principle of the supremacy of parliament. He said the ToR presented by the prime minister during Wednesday’s meeting was ‘confused and ambiguous’ and there was no mention of the committee’s powers.
He said the opposition would clearly define the functions of the proposed committee in the ToR.
Mr Rabbani said the powers of the recently-established Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) would also be defined in the ToR. He said the opposition had suggested that all the institutions taking part in the relief and reconstruction processes should work under the supervision of parliament and heads of these institutions should be accountable to the parliamentary committee.
Mr Rabbani said the opposition wanted to have financial accountability in the use of donated amount through the parliament.
He said the opposition wanted to have civilian control over the relief and reconstruction work.
The MMA president said the opposition had told the government in categorical terms that it would not accept the ToR presented by the prime minister. He said the opposition leaders would agree to become members of the parliamentary committee, if the government accepted the ToR drafted by them.
It may be mentioned that while speaking at a press conference after attending a parliamentary leaders’ meeting on Wednesday, the opposition leaders had rejected the proposed ToR presented by the prime minister and announced that they would finalize their own ToR for the committee.