Absence of Federal Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Farogh Naseem from Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice led to the postponement of committee meeting.
Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice Senator Javed Abbasi after taking opinion of the members decided to call off the meeting terming the absence of minister an indication of non-seriousness of the minister and hence the government. It may be noted that today’s meeting was scheduled to be held on 26 March but was rescheduled for today on request of the minister himself. Senator Raza Rabbani observed that the minister has given a statement a few days ago that the Parliament is not cooperating with the government for legislation but today’s meeting makes it evident that the lack of cooperation is on part of the government. The Committee appreciated the presence of Secretary Law and Justice and his team regularly in the meetings but at the same time observed that opinion on policy decisions cannot be taken in absence of the minister. The Committee also noted the discomfort caused to the senior office bearers of Islamabad High Court Bar Association who made it to the meeting since the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was on agenda. The Committee noted that the minister is a member of the Senate and he should try his best not to embarrass the Upper House and its committee.
