Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani on Friday criticised the incumbent set-up and said the country’s foreign policy should be “decided by the Parliament and not Rawalpindi”.

Sharing his thoughts during a Senate session, Rabbani lamented that every institution was trying to enter another institution’s jurisdiction, in blatant disregard for the powers granted to institutions by constitution.

Observing that the “Parliament is the mother of all state institutions”, the former chairman said there was no harmony among the institutions.

“All institutions are answerable to parliament, [but] the Parliament is being made dysfunctional,” he lamented, adding that it was disappointing when the foreign minister said some things could not be told to the House. “What is it that can be hidden from the Parliament?” Rabbani questioned.

He demanded that a national security committee of parliament be formed immediately. “We are not here to inquire about the weather. We are here to make policies.”

The PPP veteran also demanded for reduction in the powers of the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, and said that a bench should be formed in every high court to review reports of alleged torture during NAB inquiries.

“Accountability is not only for politicians,” Rabbani remarked, adding that there should also be accountability for the judiciary, military, bureaucracy and executives.

Meanwhile, the Senate was informed that a pact was signed with the Swiss government to get information with regard to the bank particulars of Pakistani citizens in that country.

To a question amid the question hour in Senate, Minister of State Hamad Azhar said that the treaty signed by the previous government in 2013 was incomplete in some respects as it did not give details of “account-holder”.

The minister stated that information from 21 countries had started to come in this regard. He hoped that data from Switzerland will begin next month.

Published in Daily Times, December 22^nd 2018.