Mandviwalla rules out early Senate election

PESHAWAR: Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla said on Thursday the election for the upper house of the Parliament would be held after completion of constitutional term of the retiring senators and as per procedure and schedule.

He said this while responding to questions from journalists after addressing the business community at the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here. The meeting attended by chamber senior vice--president Mansoor Elahi, vice-president Junaid Altaf, Senator Beharmand Tangi, Ghazanfar Bilour, Zahidullah Shinwari, Malik Niaz Ahmad, Ziaulllah Afridi, Shahid Hussain, Abdul Jalil Jan, Abidullah Yousafzai, Kamran Zeb, Mujeebur Rehman, Malik Mohsin Sajjad, Muhammad Naeem Butt, Muhammad Tariq, Muhammad Sajjad, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Fazal Muqeem, Faiz Rasool and others. Mandviwalla said that an amendment to the Constitution would be needed if the Senate election was conducted ahead of the prescribed schedule.

“Making legislation is not the business of the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” he said and added that a superior judiciary could ask the Parliament to revisit or amend certain laws. The Senate deputy chairman said a requisition had been submitted to call a special Senate session in which degrees of the NAB officials would be discussed.

Taking up other problems of the businessmen, the Senate deputy chairman asked the business community to submit details of the cases and notices in the Senate being issued by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) so that a strategy is devised against, what he termed was, the illegal and illegitimate actions of these two entities.

He said whoever is facing problems with NAB should contact the SCCI, asking the chamber to take these issues to the Senate of Pakistan.

Mandviwalla stressed that private individuals and businessmen should not become victims of the anti-graft watchdog. He said the NAB actions were angering the business community and these which should end immediately. “If the NAB is doing the work of FBR, then the latter should be dissolved,” added the Senate deputy chairman.

Mandviwalla emphasised the representation of the business community in the Parliament is necessary, alleging that NAB is currently troubling businessmen by employing various tactics. He pointed out that private businesses do not fall in the domain of NAB.

The Senate deputy chairman said the KP business community had contributed to the economy by paying taxes and their very role should be acknowledged. He said the government as well as Parliament made a mistake by not amending the NAB laws, adding for the first time the NAB affairs would be discussed in the Senate meeting. Mandviwalla said that Islamabad businessmen had told him about the torture they face from NAB. He also stressed that the presence of businessmen in the Parliament is very important. The Senate deputy chairman said he had written letters to the prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan and army chief to express concerns at the NAB actions. Earlier, SCCI President Sherbaz Bilour said the KP is producing additional electricity and gas despite the fact that people of the province were faced with electricity and gas load-shedding, which was against the Constitution.

Zahidullah Shinwari, Ghazanfar Bilour, Malik Niaz Ahmad, Fazal Muqeem, Mansoor Elahi and others also spoke on the occasion.