Senate committee issues notices to Sindh govt officials over issue of Raza Rabbani's protocol

Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges on Tuesday sent notices to three officials of the Sindh government in the matter of Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani not receiving any protocol upon his visit to Karachi on Sept 17, 2017.

In September last year, Rabbani had visited Karachi in the capacity of the stand-in president but was not given due protocol on his arrival. According to the committee, only a station house officer was at the airport to welcome the stand-in president.

In today's meeting, the committee did not take well to the absence of the Sindh chief secretary who, despite being asked to appear repeatedly, remained absent.

As a result, the committee sent out a third notice to the Sindh secretary, along with Commissioner Karachi and the Director General of Protocol, to appear in the next meeting of the committee.

Earlier, when the matter was first raised in front of the committee, it had asked the Sindh police to explain itself and it came to light that since President Mamnoon Hussain has disallowed protocol for himself, Rabbani was also not given an official welcome on his arrival in Karachi.