ISLAMABAD: (Parliament Times) Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges in its meeting discussed three privilege motions by Senators Mushahidullah Khan and Salahuddin Tirmzi. The meeting was held with Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq in the chair and was attended among others by Senators Mushahidullah Khan, Pervaiz Rasheed, Dilawar Khan, Mian Raza Rabbani, Salahuddin Tirmzi, Asif Kirmani, Waleed Iqbal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, and senior officers from concerned ministries.
The privilege motion by Senator Mushahidullah Khan against the Ambassadors and other concerned officers posted in Pakistani missions at Doha and Paris was disposed of after the Committee was assured that the new SOPs put in place after the incident of negligence will be followed in letter and spirit and whenever any Parliamentarian is going on any official visit or conference the Pakistani mission in that country will hold briefings for the delegation and will accompany them in the official engagements. The Committee also directed the Foreign Office to get a written apology from the concerned embassies and submit to the Committee.
Regarding the privilege motion against the Secretary Communications for not following the recommendations of the Senate Committee on Communications regarding the payment to the land owners whose land was acquired for the construction of road from Kaghan to Babusar Top in 2019, the Committee disposed of the matter with a directive to the ministry of communications to conduct an inquiry and report back as to who was responsible for the callous attitude and delay as well as loo into how the owners of the land can be compensated. The matter was referred back to the Standing Committee on communications.
The Privilege motion by Senator Mushahidullah Khan regarding baseless allegation of dues of Rs. 2700000 against him on account of his stay in Punjab House Islamabad was deferred till the first audit meeting is held and the name of Senator is cleared from the allegation since all the documentation available shows that the Senator did not occupy the said room nor did ask for anyone else to stay there in his place and all dues for the time he was actually there have been cleared.
