Opposition walks out of Senate over unanswered questions

PIA plane crash

Rabbani says sacrifice of black goats won’t absolve
PIA of responsibility; resignation of MD not enough

ISLAMABAD: Amid the joint opposition’s boycott of the Senate proceedings on Friday against non-availability of any minister to respond to their queries on the recent Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ATR plane crash, Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani asserted that mere sacrificing of black goats would not absolve the national airline’s management of its responsibility.

The chairman Senate made it clear to the PIA management that they could not escape the responsibility, as mere resignation of its managing director, who quit in wake of the incident, was not enough. Rabbani reserved his ruling on the government’s decision of putting five regulators under the line ministries.

Opposition senators stormed out of the House in protest against the ‘callousness’ of PIA, alleging that information was being concealed from parliament about the recent crash of PK-66 near Havelian.

Raza Rabbani reprimanded the government when he did not find a single minister to respond to a call attention notice by the PTI Senator Samina Abid and Sehar Kamran of the PPP, to draw the attention of minister in-charge Aviation Division towards the recent plane crash in which 48 people on board lost their lives.

As Senator Samina stood up to read out the call attention notice, Rabbani stopped her and asked Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq why no minister was present in the House to respond to this very important issue in which 48 people lost their lives.

On this, Zafarul Haq said he had tried to contact the relevant minister as well as PIA officials but none could be reached despite repeated attempts. This angered Rabbani, who then referred the matter to the Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.

Declaring the non-cooperation by the Aviation Division and PIA a breach of parliament, he directed the Senate Secretariat to issue notices to the secretary aviation and director operations of PIA to appear before the committee.

“The joint secretary aviation is avoiding providing details about the plane crash to the Senate. Not a single minister from such a big cabinet bothered to come to the House to speak on the issue,” he lamented.

Rabbani said PIA was busy in slaughtering black goats but no one was ready to brief parliament, adding that the PIA had become habitual of burying things under the carpet despite the loss of 48 lives.

“The MD PIA just resigned and it doesn’t mean that he’s been absolved of his responsibility: issue notices to secretary aviation and director operations PIA to appear before the director operations PIA to appear before the committee as this is a breach of privilege,” he asserted.

Senator Samina squarely blamed the PIA for the crash of the ATR plane, saying it was sheer negligence of the national carrier’s management as it allowed the unfortunate ATR aircraft to take off with a faulty engine, which was accepted by the secretary aviation, but he denied the same later on.

She said that instead of improving their performance, the PIA was busy in offering ‘sadqa of goats’, seeking divine intervention, which reflected what sort of people had been made in-charge of the national flag carrier, which had lost its credibility.

The opposition senators refused to come back to the House despite assurance by the PML-N parliamentary leader in the Senate Mushahidullah Khan, who went out to bring them back on the orders of the Senate chairman.

Meanwhile, chairman Senate reserved his ruling on the legal aspect of the recent notification by the federal government to bring five regulatory bodies under the line ministers, while referred two other issue pertaining to the CCI nod and administrative power to the Senate standing committee on devolution.

Minister for Law Zahid Hamid said that nothing new was done as it is the prerogative of the chief executive who could transfer any regulatory body, as it had been done on numerous occasions in the past. The minister insisted that the transfer was made in accordance with rules and regulations, adding that the decision would not curtail the administrative and financial powers of these institutions.

Meanwhile, the government informed the Senate that the option of curtailing trade with India as a retaliatory measure to its repeated aggression across the Line of Control (LoC) was not in Pakistan’s interests in the given situation.

Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastagir, while responding to a call attention notice, moved by PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwala, explained that the Pak-India trade stood at $2.083 billion, which was India’s 0.4 percent of total global trade volume, whereas Pakistan’s chunk with regards to its international trade was 14.5 percent of total trade with India.

Khurram pointed out that reduction of trade volume with New Delhi would have a minimal impact on its overall economy, but it would be significant for Pakistan and added that several industries here relied on raw material imported from across the border.

Earlier, during the question hour, Khurram Dastagir said that despite having been given most favoured nation (MFN) status from India, there were so many non-tariff trade barriers in the way of Pakistan’s trade with India.

Minister for Capital Administration and Development Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told the House that the PC-I of Chirah dam, a joint project of Punjab and Islamabad, was being reviewed, whereas, the project originally was to be completed in 2014.

He agreed with Senators Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the MQM, Ch Tanvir Khan of the PML-N and PPP’s Taj Haider that the proposed dam was crucial to meeting increasing water need of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, but said the inordinate delay was due to non-acquisition of time by the Small Dams Organisation, Punjab.

Meanwhile, the Senate of Pakistan hosted diverse groups of students belonging to three different institutes of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.  The three groups of students whose visits were arranged separately belonged to students of faculty of Dar-e-Arqam School Kallar Syedan Campus, Rawalpindi, students and faculty from University of Lahore, Islamabad campus and students and faculty from Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi. 

These groups were given a guided tour of the Gali-e-Dastoor, a lane narrating the story of Pakistan's Constitutional struggle. The visit began with a short video documentary which was followed by a briefing on five panels of the gali and the fountain in the courtyard.