ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Tuesday again saw a debate over the recruitment of armed forces personnel in the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) and other state organisations, with members of the opposition benches calling for specific details.
Speaking on the floor, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani said he was not against the military, but against the militarisation of civilian institutions.
Senator Rabbani asked the minister to confirm or deny that the individuals holding the following positions were from armed forces:
Director general of Anti-Narcotics force; Director of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission; Chairman of Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority; Chairman of Pakistan International Airlines; Chairman of Naya Pakistan Housing Authority; A member of the National Development Council; A member of the Economic Advisory Committee; Chairman of Water and Power Development Authority; Director of Civil Aviation Authority; Director of Airport Security Force; Executive of National Disaster Management Authority.
Raza Rabbani remarked that Sheikh Rashid was probably the minister in charge of answering this question. “A strange tradition has been set here that apart from one or two federal ministers no one else comes to the parliament to answer questions,” he said.
Rabbani requested the Senate chairman to compel ministers concerned to answer the questions raised in the parliament regarding their departments.
“We are not at all against the armed forces but we are against this concept of militarisation of civil authority. That is inappropriate. We are standing with Pakistan Army as far as their constitutional role is concerned,” the PPP senator added.
“Hatred for the armed forces”
Responding to Senator Rabbani’s question, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan repeated the answer he provided in the previous session, suggesting that a fresh query be submitted over the specific issue of rehiring retired armed forces personnel.
“The people whose first prime minister and party chairman was Pakistan’s first civil martial law administrator shouldn’t teach the House about civil-military imbalance,” he said.
Regarding Rabbani’s list, the minister said that each of those 15 postings had its reasons as he pointed out that even Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto relied on Major-Gen (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar, who was the interior minister in her cabinet.
He questioned what was wrong if armed forces personnel who were fit for the roles were hired. “We are all Pakistani, someone is wearing a vest and someone is not so stop doing politics on the basis of hatred,” Khan said.
‘Why don’t you take their names?’
Before Rabbani, JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said he had sought details of personnel from the army, air force, and the navy, who are appointed to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
The senator said unemployment was increasing in the country, “but retired officials from the armed forces are being reappointed” to state-run institutions.
“NADRA has appointed dozens of armed forces officers […] why don’t you take their names? They have occupied the entire NADRA,” Senator Ahmed asked Khan.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Yousuf Raza Gillani also joined the debate and called on the parliamentary affairs minister to remain focused on the question raised at hand instead of delving into past history otherwise “the issue will go somewhere else far away.”
