FIA violates rules of procedure

LAHORE Politicians of all shades demand and vow to guarantee supremacy of the parliament, but when it comes to asserting themselves for actualising the ideal, they either seem to buckle under some unknown pressure, opt for political expediency or other considerations weigh heavier than the actual cause. The same happened on Friday at the Punjab Assembly when the Opposition and the Treasury benches criticised the violation of Rules of Procedure of the Assembly regarding the arrest of MPA Ch Moonis Elahi sans intimation to the Speaker but fell short of taking any immediate tangible step aimed at communicating a strong message to the Federal Investigation Agency. After the session started with a delay of over two hours, mainly PML-Q members protested against the arrest of Moonis Elahi, who is son of former Chief Minister Punjab Ch Pervaiz Elahi. They resorted to sloganeering against the FIA, and did not stop even when their parliamentary leader Ch Zaheeruddin was pleading Moonis Elahis case. He was of the considered opinion that it was a case of political victimisation, and asserted that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had taken out a personal grudge. He did not blame the PPP as a party and its leaders. However, while singling out Rehman Malik, he maintained that since the FIA fell under the latters command, Malik was using it as a tool to settle scores. While acting as an agent, he (Malik) is trying to create dissensions, he alleged, but had to beg pardon seeing strong reaction from the PPP members. Ch Zaheer also complained about the maltreatment meted out to Moonis. However, he denied that Ch Shujaat Hussain had met the President and the Prime Minster with the intention of earning relief for Moonis. Our party will face all challenges and suffer political victimisation with courage, he vowed. He implicitly asked the Speaker whether the latter was informed about the arrest, and if not, strict action should be taken since it was a violation of rules of procedure. However, during the course of the discussion it came to the knowledge of all that the FIA had neither sought Speakers permission nor intimated him later on. It also amply depicted that the FIA has no respect for the highest forum of the province. Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal mentioned that the rule 77 has been violated. Under the Punjab Assembly Rules of Procedure section 77 (Intimation to Speaker by magistrate, and others, of arrest, detention, etc. of members), the Speaker has to be taken into confidence for the arrest of a parliamentarian. The section reads, When a member is arrested on a criminal charge or for a criminal offence or is sentenced to imprisonment by a court or is detained under an executive order, the committing judge, magistrate or executive authority, as the case may be, shall immediately intimate such fact to the Speaker indicating the reasons for the arrest, detention or conviction, as the case may be, as also the place of detention or imprisonment of the member in the appropriate form set out in the Fourth Schedule. The Speaker affirmed that the said section had been violated and he would take strict action. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah also confirmed that the Speakers right was violated. He told the House that he tried to contact the responsible persons of the FIA, but no one was available. Thus, he had asked the IGP Punjab and the Home Secretary to contact the Agency. He requested the Speaker to refer the issue to the Privilege Committee, which was immediately done, but the PML-Q legislators were not satisfied, which sparked a commotion in the House and a clear rift emerged between the PML-Q and the PPP. The latter rejected PML-Qs allegations and assured the House that the PPP did not believe in the culture of political victimisation.