Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani has ended the self-imposed boycott of the Upper House of the Parliament after his production orders for two lawmakers were partially implemented on Saturday,
At last on the production order of Gilani, PTI Senator Aon Abbas Bappi was taken to the Parliament on Saturday and handed over to the serjeant-at-arms amid tight security. Later, the legislator attended the House proceedings.
Following the production of the PTI senator, Gilani, too, ended the boycott of the Senate session.
The Senate chairman had not presided over several sessions of the upper House of the parliament in protest against the non-implementation of his order for production of lawmakers.
Later, speaking in the house, Senator Bappi thanked the House chairman for issuing his production order. “I was brought to the parliament after an eight-hour journey in a daala,” he revealed.
Bappi, however, said he would have been more pleased if PTI Senator Ejaz Chaudhry too had been produced in the House, for whom the Senate chairman had also issued production order.
The senator then walked up to Gilani’s chamber and had a meeting with him.
During the session, the chairman, in his ruling on the non-implementation of the production order for Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, said he wielded his powers to issue the order. “But the senator was not produced in the House,” he said, adding, “I refer the matter to the Privileges Committee.”
Senate chairman Gilani had issued production orders for both PTI Senators Bappi and Ejaz Chaudhry yesterday, instructing the authorities to ensure their presence in Saturday’s Senate session.
Speaking on the floor of the House, Senator Bappi thanked Gilani for his “principled stance”, noting the Senate chairman had said not to preside over the proceedings if both PTI senators were not produced before the House today.
Bappi also appreciated Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar for his “stand”, saying “some of the hardships and oppression” against him started easing after that.
Senator Bappi then detailed the events of March 6, when he was arrested, recalling that a Senate session had been summoned for Thursday but he had other engagements planned prior. Hence, he had requested that Agenda No.14 that he was to present be deferred to the next day.
“Maybe if I had attended the session, my arrest would not have taken place and I would be sitting here, but it happened that I was at home that day,” he further recollected.
Bappi said that around 20 individuals came at his house at around 8:30am on March 6. “They first broke my front door, then they tied up all my houseworkers at one place,” he alleged.
Without naming any law enforcement agency, the PTI senator claimed that a “joint operation” was conducted as his factory was raided as well. He added he was sleeping in his room with his wife when “they banged the door so forcefully that the lock broke and they just entered”.
Bappi said his mobile phones were sought but as he did not remember where he had kept them, the individuals had threatened to jail his 16-year-old son along with him if the devices were not handed over. However, his son was let go once a houseworker gave his mobile phones, he recalled.
Detailing his subsequent court appearance, Bappi said he was then sent on a one-day remand. Comparing the case against him to older ones filed against Fawad Chaudhry and Shehryar Afridi, he termed the hunting charges “respectable FIR”.
The PTI senator went on to say that his “fault” was running a campaign against inflation in south Punjab, “staying loyal to Imran Khan”, and raising his voice for incarcerated PTI leaders. “These are my faults for which I have faced punishment for two days and might face it in the future as well.”
In a ruling issued Saturday, Gilani noted there had been no intimation of the case against Bappi as provided under Rule 79 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012, which reflected a “clear violation of established parliamentary procedures and disregard for institutional protocol”.
