Foreign policy should be shifted from Rawalpindi to Parliament: Rabbani

Every institution trying to enter another institution’s jurisdiction, said former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani - file photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Raza Rabbani on Friday said that it was no secret where the country’s foreign policy was decided, and demanded that the authority to devise the policy be “shifted from Rawalpindi to the Parliament.”

Sharing his thoughts during a Senate session, Rabbani lamented that every institution was trying to enter another institution’s jurisdiction, in blatant disregard for the powers granted to institutions by the Constitution.

Observing that the “Parliament is the mother of all state institutions”, the former Senate chairman said there was no harmony among the institutions.

“All institutions are answerable to the Parliament, [but] the Parliament is being made dysfunctional,” he lamented, adding that it was disappointing when the foreign minister said some things cannot be told to the House.

“What is it that can be hidden from the Parliament?” Rabbani questioned.

He demanded that a national security committee of the Parliament be formed immediately. “We are not here to inquire about the weather. We are here to make policies.”

The PPP veteran also asked to reduce the powers of the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, and said that a bench should be formed in every high court to review reports of alleged torture during NAB inquiries.

“Accountability is not only for politicians,” Rabbani remarked, adding that there should also be accountability for the judiciary, military, bureaucracy and executives.