In September last, Rabbani visited Karachi in the capacity of acting 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 acting president. In the meeting on Tuesday, the committee did not take the absence of the Sindh chief secretary well who remained absent despite being asked to appear repeatedly.
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.
Rabbani who is going to retire in March as chairman Senate is not quite fond of protocol but he referred the matter to the committee to grill the officials after they did not reach the airport when he landed there in capacity of acting president when President Mamnoon Hussain was undertaking a visit abroad.