Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday said the PPP had formally empowered Hussain Haqqani to directly issue visas to Americans entering the country during the time it was in power.

Winding up a discussion in the Senate on an adjournment motion regarding Haqqani's claims, Aziz revealed that the PPP's Ministry of Interior had written a letter to the ex-ambassador on July 16, 2010, authorising him to issue diplomatic visas to Americans.

Aziz noted that this marked a significant policy change, as the number of such visas issued to Americans registered an increase after the letter and reached 2,487 in six months. In the preceding six months, 1,659 diplomatic visas had been issued, he revealed.

The adviser also said Haqqani did not state correctly the number of visas he had authorised when he spoke before the Abbottabad Commission.

During the session, Aziz described Haqqani as a willing instrument used by the then political leadership.

Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani remarked that the decision on whether to form a committee or otherwise will be taken by the parliament.

He said Musharraf, during his days as president, had allowed Americans to use the cargo entrance of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport to enter Pakistan without visas, skipping immigration and customs procedures.

He alleged that a lot of 'equipment' had also been cleared in those days.

Rabbani added that though the security agencies had finally prevailed, a lot of individuals without valid visas had entered Pakistan and lot of equipment had also been cleared.

Retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum, who had moved the adjournment motion, said the fact that Pakistan Army was kept out of the loop was an issue that raised questions regarding the system.

He also referred to Haqqani's book, Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military, and described it as a venomous diatribe against the military.

Defending former president Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said there was "no new revelation in Haqqani's article", adding that "a hype is being deliberately created to malign and tarnish Zardari's image".

The senator also pushed for the Abbottabad Commission report to be made public, pointing out that the body must have investigated who exactly issued the visas and how.

But "the movers of the motion dare not ask for making the report public because they fear that it might expose those they wish to keep hidden", alleged Babar.

The PPP senator said that instead of focusing on Haqqani and Zardari, "let us focus on the real tragedy of Pakistan and find out how it became possible for Osama Bin Laden to live in Abbottabad."

"After all, tracing and eliminating Bin Laden had been our state's national policy," the PPP senator said.