—— Demands special Senate session over the issue
—— Says this interference is not limited solely to electoral matters
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Islamabad: Senator Raza Rabbani voiced significant concerns on Monday, highlighting what he perceives as a failure of the caretaker government in safeguarding Pakistan’s national sovereignty.
As a former Senate chairman and a prominent leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Rabbani alleged that Western nations have been continuously interfering in the country’s internal affairs. He went further to assert that this interference is not limited solely to electoral matters; diplomats in Islamabad are actively engaging in discussions concerning Pakistan’s economic and political situation.
In response to these concerns, Senator Rabbani demanded the immediate convening of a Senate session to facilitate a comprehensive debate on issues related to national sovereignty and other critical challenges facing the nation. One noteworthy development he pointed out is the increasing presence of foreign diplomats visiting the offices of various political parties within Pakistan.
“We, as proud citizens of a sovereign nation, do not accept external influence,” Senator Rabbani declared.
Earlier, Senator Raza Rabbani on Friday took strong exception to the caretaker government’s reconstitution of the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC), saying that it was a “violation of the scheme of the Constitution and section 230, Election Act, 2017”. A day earlier, interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar reshaped three key committees of the federal cabinet. These included the Cabinet Committee on Energy, Cabinet Committee on Chinese Investment Projects and Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases.
According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, the CCLC has been reconstituted with a slightly reduced membership. To be led by the minister for law and justice, the committee would comprise ministers for information, planning, religious affairs and IT and telecom. During the tenure of the previous government, the committee led by the law minister comprised ministers for interior, water resources, board of investment, parliamentary affairs and economic affairs.
The Attorney General for Pakistan and secretaries for cabinet division and law and justice would remain unchanged as special invitees while an additional secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office has now been added to the committee.
Surprisingly, the new committee would also be responsible for examining whether fresh legislation or amendments in the existing laws are in line with the Constitutional scheme, not in violation of any existing law, and fall within the mandate of Parliament and to examine the contents of fresh legislations and rules as well as amendments to the existing laws/rules, and give its recommendations as to whether the same is in line with the policy of the government and Constitutional and legislative scheme.
Under the terms of reference, in case the CCLC decides to amend the proposal of the sponsoring Division, from a policy perspective, and the same is agreed to by the sponsoring Division in the CCLC meeting, the amended proposal shall be placed before the Cabinet for ratification and in case of disagreement between the Sponsoring Division and CCLC on a policy matter, the points of view of both shall be placed before the Cabinet for a decision.
In a press release issued today, Senator Rabbani highlighted that the mandate of the caretaker government/cabinet was limited to and could not exceed day-to-day affairs and did not include the examination of laws passed by the Parliament.
“The cabinet committee consists of five federal ministers and four special invitees including the Attorney General for Pakistan.
“The committee has defined four TORs (terms of reference), one of which mandates it to look at the recently passed legislation to see if it conforms to the Constitution, is in conflict with existing laws and above all if Parliament was competent to pass them,” the PPP senator said.
The committee, he continued, had been assigned the role of the “judiciary” and an unelected government “will sit in judgment over the constitutional competence of Parliament”.
“This also raises very serious questions as to the intentions of the caretakers,” he added.
