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10-05-2016, 04:22 AM
ISLAMABAD: The Chairman Senate, Raza Rabbani, on Tuesday said that he would play his due role in reconstitution of the powerful National Security Committee of Parliament, which is currently dysfunctional, as the PPP submitted a petition for the reconstitution of the body amid serious security challenges Pakistan faces today.
Rabbani made these remarks after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman raised the issue on a point of public importance, after submitting a petition in the Senate for reconstitution of the panel, asking the chairman Senate to play his role in reconstitution of the top panel, which, she said, is need of the hour amidst the flurry of internal and external security threats to the country. Rabbani once headed the council, which came up with crucial input at crunch times.
The Senate chairman recalled that the council under his chairmanship some years back played an effective role in giving policy guidelines to the government especially in the wake of Osama bin Laden incident, as well as on other numerous occasions and its reconstitution at this crucial time was needed the most.
“I want this should be reconstituted, and I’ll also talk to Speaker National Assembly to play his role in reconstituting the committee as soon as possible as it’s a powerful committee which is headed by a member from the treasury,” he added.
Rabbani took up the petition with full support and said that the last committee had made 88 recommendations in the fight against terrorism, which were very useful for the government and the military.
Senator Sherry Rehman said she had submitted a petition to the Senate for reconstitution of the National Security Committee of the Parliament that is also signed by eleven opposition parties.
“The government should harness the power of democracy and institutionalise a consultative mechanism by reconstituting the National Security Committee of the Parliament,” she added. She said that Parliament was the heart of democracy and committees form the heart of the Parliament, adding National Security Committee which was in place during the last PPP government, regularly debated, suggested and monitored policy options.
“This added a first layer of parliamentary oversight to a long and intense ****** of actions undertaken by the civilian and military officials,” she stated.
In her petition, Sherry Rehman said, “the National Action Plan remains subject to little parliamentary oversight or coordinated burden-share”. “Coordinating a national response to regional, external and internal threats can only be processed appropriately across whole-of-government instruments such as a National Security Committee of Parliament,” she **ted.
She said the PPP took up the issue at a meeting with the prime minister during Monday's all parties’ conference (APC) as a result the government has made a commitment to reconstitute the National Security Committee.
The senator **ted that the principal motive of the National Security Committee was for Parliament to take ownership of the strategic and tactical policy agendas initiated and operationalised by the government as a whole, adding the Parliament must demonstrate at least a first layer of agency, interest and accountability to a battle that **w stands at the heart of Pakistani citizenship.
On a point of public importance, Senator Farhatullah Babar expressed deep concern over continuing incidents of human rights violations in Balochistan. He warned of disastrous consequences if this issue was **t addressed in earnest.
The Plant Breeder’ Rights Bill, 2016 was tabled in Senate. The bill was moved by Minister for National Security and Research Sikander Hayat Bosan which was referred to the concerned standing committee for further consideration.
The minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid presented National Command Authority Act, 2010. The National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was also presented in Senate, which was referred to the concerned committee.
The minister also laid the reports of Federal Accounts for 2014-15 and reports of Auditor General for audit year 2014-15, in the Senate.
The minister for Law and Justice, Zahid Hamid said the government was ready to disclose details of persons/firms who had obtained loans of Rs5 million from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) during the last five years, in an in-camera briefing
The lawmakers from both sides of the aisle including Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani took serious **tice of an earlier reply submitted to the House where it had plainly stated that it could **t disclose its clients identities.
Rabbani said the NBP was duty-bound to share information with the House, adding it could **t say that it was private information, which can**t be shared with the House.
The chairman, who wanted to give a ruling on the earlier reply of the NBP, but reserved his ruling after the Law and Justice Ministry categorically stated the latest reply from the bank was that it had agreed to share the details with the Senate in an in-camera briefing.
“I reserve my ruling as the House prevailed and it has agreed to share details with the House as earlier the NBP had completely shut the door. It had categorically said that Parliament or ** Parliament, we’re **t going to share the information, which was **t acceptable,” he added.
The minister said the bank will provide the latest information of the loans that have been sanctioned during the last five years.
Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan questioned that if money of the poor was funneled out, can a bank say that it can**t share the information with the Parliament, adding there is ** such law, under which a bank can hide the information of borrowers with the Parliament.
According to Senator Saleem Manadviwala of PPP, the issue is bad debt, which is a common practice throughout the globe, adding it is the right of the NBP to write off the loans.
However, a**ther PPP Senator Taj Haider disagreed with him, and said that if a person or firm goes on default, the banks should sell out the collateral instead of adopting different ways to get the loans written off at the cost of taxpayers.
He insisted there should be legislation to bridge loopholes so that the banks could recover the money from defaulters by selling out the collaterals.
Senator Usman Khan Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) said the NBP loans had always been used as political bribe by different governments. A bank should k**w that it can**t hide details of the borrowers from the elected representatives of people, he added.
Senators **man Wazir Khattak of PTI and PML-N's Lt. Gen (R) Abdul Qayum said there should be legislation in this regard, as billions of rupees of the government as well as commercial banks have so far been waived off by different governments under one pretext or a**ther. Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldeni who raised the issue through a motion, said if details are **t shared with the Parliament, it will become clear that it has ** importance, adding we want the details that which government had waived off how much loans.
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Rabbani made these remarks after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman raised the issue on a point of public importance, after submitting a petition in the Senate for reconstitution of the panel, asking the chairman Senate to play his role in reconstitution of the top panel, which, she said, is need of the hour amidst the flurry of internal and external security threats to the country. Rabbani once headed the council, which came up with crucial input at crunch times.
The Senate chairman recalled that the council under his chairmanship some years back played an effective role in giving policy guidelines to the government especially in the wake of Osama bin Laden incident, as well as on other numerous occasions and its reconstitution at this crucial time was needed the most.
“I want this should be reconstituted, and I’ll also talk to Speaker National Assembly to play his role in reconstituting the committee as soon as possible as it’s a powerful committee which is headed by a member from the treasury,” he added.
Rabbani took up the petition with full support and said that the last committee had made 88 recommendations in the fight against terrorism, which were very useful for the government and the military.
Senator Sherry Rehman said she had submitted a petition to the Senate for reconstitution of the National Security Committee of the Parliament that is also signed by eleven opposition parties.
“The government should harness the power of democracy and institutionalise a consultative mechanism by reconstituting the National Security Committee of the Parliament,” she added. She said that Parliament was the heart of democracy and committees form the heart of the Parliament, adding National Security Committee which was in place during the last PPP government, regularly debated, suggested and monitored policy options.
“This added a first layer of parliamentary oversight to a long and intense ****** of actions undertaken by the civilian and military officials,” she stated.
In her petition, Sherry Rehman said, “the National Action Plan remains subject to little parliamentary oversight or coordinated burden-share”. “Coordinating a national response to regional, external and internal threats can only be processed appropriately across whole-of-government instruments such as a National Security Committee of Parliament,” she **ted.
She said the PPP took up the issue at a meeting with the prime minister during Monday's all parties’ conference (APC) as a result the government has made a commitment to reconstitute the National Security Committee.
The senator **ted that the principal motive of the National Security Committee was for Parliament to take ownership of the strategic and tactical policy agendas initiated and operationalised by the government as a whole, adding the Parliament must demonstrate at least a first layer of agency, interest and accountability to a battle that **w stands at the heart of Pakistani citizenship.
On a point of public importance, Senator Farhatullah Babar expressed deep concern over continuing incidents of human rights violations in Balochistan. He warned of disastrous consequences if this issue was **t addressed in earnest.
The Plant Breeder’ Rights Bill, 2016 was tabled in Senate. The bill was moved by Minister for National Security and Research Sikander Hayat Bosan which was referred to the concerned standing committee for further consideration.
The minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid presented National Command Authority Act, 2010. The National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was also presented in Senate, which was referred to the concerned committee.
The minister also laid the reports of Federal Accounts for 2014-15 and reports of Auditor General for audit year 2014-15, in the Senate.
The minister for Law and Justice, Zahid Hamid said the government was ready to disclose details of persons/firms who had obtained loans of Rs5 million from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) during the last five years, in an in-camera briefing
The lawmakers from both sides of the aisle including Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani took serious **tice of an earlier reply submitted to the House where it had plainly stated that it could **t disclose its clients identities.
Rabbani said the NBP was duty-bound to share information with the House, adding it could **t say that it was private information, which can**t be shared with the House.
The chairman, who wanted to give a ruling on the earlier reply of the NBP, but reserved his ruling after the Law and Justice Ministry categorically stated the latest reply from the bank was that it had agreed to share the details with the Senate in an in-camera briefing.
“I reserve my ruling as the House prevailed and it has agreed to share details with the House as earlier the NBP had completely shut the door. It had categorically said that Parliament or ** Parliament, we’re **t going to share the information, which was **t acceptable,” he added.
The minister said the bank will provide the latest information of the loans that have been sanctioned during the last five years.
Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan questioned that if money of the poor was funneled out, can a bank say that it can**t share the information with the Parliament, adding there is ** such law, under which a bank can hide the information of borrowers with the Parliament.
According to Senator Saleem Manadviwala of PPP, the issue is bad debt, which is a common practice throughout the globe, adding it is the right of the NBP to write off the loans.
However, a**ther PPP Senator Taj Haider disagreed with him, and said that if a person or firm goes on default, the banks should sell out the collateral instead of adopting different ways to get the loans written off at the cost of taxpayers.
He insisted there should be legislation to bridge loopholes so that the banks could recover the money from defaulters by selling out the collaterals.
Senator Usman Khan Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) said the NBP loans had always been used as political bribe by different governments. A bank should k**w that it can**t hide details of the borrowers from the elected representatives of people, he added.
Senators **man Wazir Khattak of PTI and PML-N's Lt. Gen (R) Abdul Qayum said there should be legislation in this regard, as billions of rupees of the government as well as commercial banks have so far been waived off by different governments under one pretext or a**ther. Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldeni who raised the issue through a motion, said if details are **t shared with the Parliament, it will become clear that it has ** importance, adding we want the details that which government had waived off how much loans.
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