ISLAMABAD: Senator Farhatullah Babar Thursday urged the Senate Chairman to announce the ruling reserved by him on trichotomy of power after a comprehensive debate in which lawmakers expressed fear that locus of power was shifting away from parliament. “Power is continuously shifting away from the civilian structures of the state as invisible forces are relentlessly busy rewriting the political and parliamentary narrative and it is critical that an appropriate ruling is announced to put on notice these elements ahead of the forthcoming Senate election,” he said while speaking on an issue of public importance in the Senate. The PPP senator said that the continuing shrinking of civilian and parliamentary space and its taking over by invisible forces and civil-military bureaucratic complex was dangerous and must be curbed. Referring to the remarks of Senator Mohsin Leghari that sugar barons were controlling the political landscape, Senator Babar said that “one section stood at the apex of power pyramid beyond every other group, which was also not accountable”. “This is a matter of serious concern that needs to be addressed.” “I do not expect that the chair’s ruling will stop the slide overnight but the expression of consolidated opinion of the House might help in injecting some sanity all around,” he said. Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said that he had almost finalised his ruling on the issue and would announce it soon. He also invited Baber to his chamber today (Friday) for a discussion on the issue. Later, talking to the media Senator Farhatullah Babar said during earlier discussion on trichotomy of power, he had pointed out that the central issue was the “systematic and deliberate shifting of locus of power from Islamabad to Rawalpindi and worse still the new locus was not accountable”. “The phenomenon was summed up by former army chief General Jehangir Karamt while commenting on the Legal Frame Work Order (LFO) of General (r) Pervez Musharraf. General JK publicly admitted that the LFO represented the longstanding desire of the military to rewrite the civil-military equation on the terms of the military. So neither it is something new nor is there any doubt about what he has been saying. The issue is that it has acquired speed and momentum that does not bode well for the federation,” he said. Meanwhile, State Minister for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that India was behind anti-Pakistan campaigns in the United States and the European countries. Responding to a calling attention notice in the Senate, he said the government and the missions abroad took up the matter of ‘Free Balochistan and Free Karachi’ campaigns with the relevant authorities in Washington and the European capitals. However, under free speech, Washington could not provide the name of proper forum. During question hours, Minister for Water Resources Syed Javed Ali Shah informed the House that the government would announce water policy in the next ten days. He said the policy was being finalised in consultation with the relevant provincial authorities. Over a matter of public importance, Senator Sherry Rehman questioned the adviser to the PM on aviation as to why PIA had halted flight routes to Kuwait and Oman. “It is important to point out that air traffic had swelled 40% over the past five years to 20 million passengers. It was shocking and disturbing to see PIA halting international flight routes. Despite the global trends of improvement in profitability and significant decline in oil prices, PIA continued to make losses and could not even cover costs,” she added. Published in Daily Times, February 16th 2018.