ISLAMABAD, May 2: The main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday boycotted the Senate proceedings, challenging the legitimacy of the entire cabinet after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s conviction on contempt charges.

Unlike the National Assembly where the government faced great difficulty in running the house due to the noisy protests by the PML-N members, the boycott by the party’s senators provided an opportunity to the treasury benches in the upper house to carry out the agenda smoothly.

In the absence of the PML-N senators, the upper house passed a unanimous resolution to condemn desecration of the Holy Quran by a US pastor. The house also witnessed a token walkout by the members of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) over the recent US drone attack in the country’s tribal areas.

The token walkout by the JUI-F members triggered a brief debate in the house on continued violation of the country’s sovereignty by the US through drone attacks and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) Raza Rabbani announced that the committee had already summoned the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next week for a briefing on the implementation of the resolution unanimously passed by both the houses in a joint sitting last month containing recommendations on new terms of engagement with the US.

At the outset of the sitting, when Chairman Nayyar Bokhari announced start of the question hour, PML-N Senator Raja Zafarul Haq stood up and said his party would not participate in the proceedings as it considered the prime minister and his cabinet illegitimate after the Supreme Court’s April 26 verdict.

He also condemned the recent drone attack while announcing the boycott. After completion of the question hour, JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri while speaking on a point of order said the US had constantly been “insulting” Pakistan’s parliament through drone attacks. “If we do not have the courage and power to defend our country, there was no need for passing such resolutions,” he said.

PCNS chairman Raza Rabbani said the parliament had passed three resolutions against drone attacks and it was sad that the US was not ready to listen to the voice of the parliament. He said that the PCNS had already taken notice of the recent drone attack and asked the Foreign Office to brief the committee about the outcome of the recent visit of US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Mark Grossman.

RESOLUTION: Through a resolution, moved by Senator Farhatullah Babar, the Senate “condemned” the recent act of desecration of the Holy Quran by Pastor Terry Jones and called upon the UN secretary general to work out plans for promoting religious harmony.

KESC: Speaking on a point of order, PPP stalwart Raza Rabbani asked the government led by his own party to “take over” the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC)” as its management was not honouring the commitment it had made at the time of its privatisation.

Mr Rabbani alleged that the KESC management was exploiting the workers’ rights and despite several undertakings with the Sindh governor and other government functionaries, it was sacking the employees. He also called upon the government to review its privatisation policy and opposed the proposed privatisation of Pakistan Railways.