ISI issue dominates debate in Senate

Senator Dr Khalid Soomro said that President Musharraf had converted the country into a US colony and said that government was supporting the US in genocide of the Muslim Ummah in the name of war on terror. Senator S M Zafar called for restoration of judges through a brief constitutional amendment and said that the proposed constitutional package was further complicating the judges’ issue.

Senator Saleem Saifullah said that ratifying the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was the greatest blunder done by the previous Cabinet and asked the coalition government to abolish the same.

Senator Muhammad Anwar Bhinder said that there was no use of merely delivering speeches in the Senate. Rather, he said, the House should pass resolutions and forward recommendations to the government on the present situation of law and order in the country.

PML-Q Senator, Yasmeen Shah made an accusation that three-member group headed by PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari was bringing bad name to ISI for the accomplishment of Indian agenda. She alleged that Hussain Haqqani had been associated with the Indian embassy prior to taking over as the Pakistani Ambassador to USA. “Hussain Haqqani was the “brain child” of (anti-State) conspiracies, Rehman Malik prepares plan while Asif Ali Zardari gives Rehman Malik’s plans a practical shape,” she added.

Meanwhile, the remarks of Kamil Ali Agha created pandemonium in the Senate during the ‘Fateha Khawani’ of people who died in floods. Kamil Ali Agha passed the remarks that the government could do nothing but hold  ‘Fateha Khawani’. On this remark the treasury members protested against him and said that he was making a fun of the dead people because it was the part of religion to offer ‘Fateha Khawani’.

The Senate session started 40 minutes late, after the recitation of Holy Quran ‘Fateha Khawani’ was offered for former Deputy Speaker National Assembly Afzal Cheema and the people who died due to floods.