ISLAMABAD: A day after a Senate panel took exception to failure of the interior secretary to appear before it for a briefing on the national security policy, the chairman of the committee called for strict action against the official in a letter he wrote to the prime minister, Senate chairman and interior minister.
On its part, the interior ministry said on Thursday that meetings of the parliamentary committees normally took place with the consent of the ministries concerned. However, the said meeting was convened in the middle of an important visit of a foreign dignitary and after ignoring a request for postponement.
In a statement, the ministry said it was busy in dealing with various issues, including security-related matters, preparation of the national security policy, and the recent attack on a court in Islamabad. The ministry officials also had to appear before the superior courts and a judicial commission.
“Above all, the ministry has been directly involved in the state visit of king of Bahrain,” the statement said.
The chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, Talha Mehmood, told Dawn that sending requests for postponement of meetings appeared to be a favourite hobby of Interior Secretary Shahid Khan, who had not attended a single committee meeting since assuming charge of his office.
He said the letter seeking postponement this time was received by the committee on the night of March 18, when its members had already reached the venue of the meeting.
He said the committee contacted the ministry on the day the meeting was to be held and till the last minute the members were told a representative of the ministry would attend the in-camera meeting.
Mr Mehmood said no consent of the ministry was required to hold a meeting. Rather, a notice was sufficient.
“The secretary cannot dictate to us when to schedule a meeting,” he remarked and said he would be convening another meeting on March 24.
He said that in this situation, democracy and the Constitution were being challenged as the bureaucracy was indicating that it was not answerable to the parliament.