ISLAMABAD: Senator Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Tuesday said that for the first time in the history of country the parliament had acquired the right of giving outlines for the formulation of foreign policy.

Congratulating the parliamentarians for discussing the report of Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), Babar told the joint sitting of parliament that the previous political governments had strived to exercise the right to devise foreign policy but they could not succeed in their efforts.

He said it was a big change that an elected parliament was giving outlines for making a revised foreign policy for which all the political parties and their leaders should be appreciated.

The senator said that the parliament had a very vital role in the appointment of judges of superior judiciary and members of the Election Commission, and even in the constitution of caretaker government for the forthcoming elections.

Rejecting the impression that the present parliament was “rubber stamp”, he said that the government had halted Nato supplies and got vacated Shamsi airbase in the light of the resolutions passed by the parliament against attacks on Pakistan's territory.

He urged the parliamentarians to work hard and take part in the serious debate in the parliament to sustain this right.

Commenting on the report of PCNS, he said the representatives of all the political parties were included in the committee, who took active part in finalising the recommendations.