ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani sought justification from the government on Wednesday for its decision to allow the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to use a bullet-proof car at public expense.

The chairman asked the Leader of House Raja Zafarul Haq to ensure the presence of Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Aftab Shaikh in the house on Friday for an official response to the issue that was raised by Senator Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Speaking on a matter of public importance after completion of the business of the house, Mr Babar questioned the “rationale and justification” of allowing the former chief justice the use of an expensive bullet-proof car at public expense even after the former CJ had formed his own political party and was busy politicking”.

Mr Babar said that after the formation of his own political party, the ex-CJ would definitely visit places in connection with political activities and use the official car which would be an “unfair burden” on the public exchequer. He said that he knew the government would say that the car had been provided to the former judge on the order of a high court.

The senator asked the government to review the decision after the decision of the former CJ to form his political party.

Earlier during the question hour, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal informed the house that optic fibre was being laid from Khunjerab to Islamabad to connect Pakistan with China. He said that ultimately the network would be expanded to Gwadar in Balochistan.

In a written reply to a question asked by Talha Mehmood of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, the government informed the Senate that the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $20.735 billion as on Jan 12. The reply showed that the reserves stood at $18.24bn in 2011 and then decreased to $11.01bn in 2013.

In response to another question asked by Tahir Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid said that the government had borrowed $1.9bn from foreign countries and financial institutions during the three months from October to December 2015.

Speaking on behalf of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, he said the government had received $1.420bn from foreign countries and financial institutions after signing new loans during the same period whereas it had received another $2.86bn under the agreements that had already been signed. He said Pakistan had also received $500m from the IMF under the extended fund facility during the last three months.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2016