41 bills laid before NA in haste amid opposition protest – Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly witnessed on Tuesday the introduction of 41 private members' bills in the midst of the opposition's protest when President Asad Qaiser, to an unprecedented extent, allowed a moving company to submit 32 draft projects. law "at once".

Directed by Dr. Nafeesa Shah of the Popular Party of Pakistan (PPP), Dr. Nafeesa Shah, opposition members went on a house strike, leaving behind their member Ali Gohar to point out the lack of quorum when the speaker allowed to govern Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) & # 39; Syed Fakhar Imam member to "group all 32 invoices" on the agenda and move them "simply by reading their serial numbers" on the agenda.

Syed Naveed Qamar, of the PPP, opposed the decision of the speaker and then Nafeesa Shah criticized the government for what he called to crush the business of the private member's day and "take an insult to parliament."

In an unprecedented movement, he allowed the introduction of 32 bills "at once without any discussion"

Interestingly, when he announced that all the bills were presented, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Khan, said there were few bills that the government wanted to oppose.

However, the speaker, who hastened to finish a heavy agenda of 155 points that included a total of 55 bills for submission and another seven for approval, said he (the Minister of State) could oppose the projects of law in the committees.

Naveed Qamar claimed that the government was introducing the invoices with the outfit of the private member's invoices, which was unprecedented.

The experienced parliamentarian said that he had never seen the practice of nightclub bills in any of the world's parliaments. It was surprising that Mr. Imam, who had served as speaker of the assembly, did not oppose the measure, the PPP MNA added.

Speaking about a point of order, Nafeesa Shah said that the private member's day was meant to provide an opportunity for opposition members to present their bills, since the government had the facility to introduce legislation on any day. He regretted that 80 percent of the total invoices on the agenda belonged to the members of the treasury. She said the current government had been making "legislation through ordinances" and was now "crushing the legislation process" in the house.

The PPP MNA said that the speaker through a "royal decree" had also violated the privilege of committee chairs by not allowing them to convene meetings (of the panels) on their own.

"We are organizing a symbolic strike to protest all these non-parliamentary acts," said Dr. Shah, before leading the strike, leaving Ali Gohar of the Pakistan-Nawaz Muslim League behind for pointing out the lack of quorum.

Interestingly, when the opposition organized the strike, Mr. Imam was presiding over the session in the absence of the speaker who had left the house due to some other official commitment.

After a recount, Mr. Imam suspended the proceedings due to lack of quorum.

When opposition members left, the president gave the floor to Human Rights Minister Dr. Shireen Mazari, who criticized the opposition for impeding the proceedings.

"The opposition should be prevented from dictating to the government how to manage the house," he said. "We are tired. Don't dictate to us, "replied Dr. Mazari.

She said presenting the accounts of private members was also a right of the members of the treasury.

In his speech, he also attacked the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is the chairman of the assembly's human rights committee, claiming that he had been "playing politics" in several bills related to human rights. She said there were nine major bills that had been pending before the committee because Bhutto-Zardari had blocked his approval.

The opposition returned home after about 20 minutes to participate in the remaining procedures.

Under the rules, a moving company is required to request permission to present a bill and is allowed to present the bill by a vote count, in case the government objects. The moving company must also inform the Chamber about the most outstanding features of the bill before its presentation.

However, in this case, Fakhar Imam did not even read the titles of the invoices, saying that almost all the invoices were of a "similar and technical nature".

Later, the National Assembly witnessed the introduction of eight other bills, while two bills were rejected when the government opposed them.

Mehboob Shah, from the PTI, presented a very important bill seeking an amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code of 1860 through which he requested the exclusion of the death penalty from extradited people from other countries in criminal cases.

The moving company managed to present the bill in the middle of the noisy opposition protest without any discussion about it.

"The Declaration of Objects and Reasons" attached to the bill establishes that "Transnational organized crimes require the collection of evidence from several countries. The available tool of mutual legal assistance does not bear fruit, since the request under this agreement does not it is considered due to the apprehension regarding the concession of the death penalty. " Therefore, it is necessary to amend the PPC 1860 excluding the death penalty. "

The lower house of parliament will meet again on Wednesday (today) at 11 a.m.

Posted on Dawn, October 2, 2019