In a bid to bring Pakistan’s powerful ISI under civilian control, the Senate has recommended an effective role of Parliament in monitoring it while giving the spy agency power to arrest and detain.
A report unanimously adopted by the Standing Committee on Human Rights was presented in the house last Wednesday and was endorsed by the Senate. The Committee had taken note of enforced disappearances a year ago and formed a sub-committee.
“In the light of the situation, we had recommended half a dozen steps. The main one being that the security agencies should be given the power to arrest and detain and at the same time they be put under parliamentary oversight,” PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar, convener of the three-member committee which prepared the report informed.
He added, “Currently when the agencies pick up men, they do not know what to do. The report was accepted by the 15 member Standing Committee on Human Rights after modifications and was placed in Senate on Wednesday. It was endorsed by the Senate.”