The joint opposition in the National Assembly on Sunday proposed the formation of a parliamentary committee comprising members from both houses of parliament to consider and approve with consensus a complete package of electoral reforms.
The decision was made at a virtual meeting of the Steering Committee of the joint opposition held to mull over the National Assembly speaker’s letter to the opposition seeking cooperation on the important legislation.
The joint opposition rejected the changes in the panel on the appointment of the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the Senate chairman included federal ministers Fawad Chaudhry and Azam Swati in the committee. The opposition expressed reservations over the government’s decision to remove Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) from the committee.
It may be noted that Senator Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q had been replaced by Azam Nazir Tarar of the PML-N, while Senator Taj Haider of the PPP had replaced Khalida Ateeb of the MQM.
About the changes in the ECP panel, the opposition members said that the government included two members – Fawad and Swati – who have in the past threatened the ECP chief. One of the members talked about setting the ECP on fire, they said, adding that now these people were being asked to decide on the appointment of the ECP members.
During the meeting, it was decided that the opposition will support the government on important legislation, but it will not help it tailor laws to facilitate individuals. The legislation should be in accordance with the constitution and the law, they concurred. They said the government wanted to violate the spirit of law-making by extending the tenure of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chief Javed Iqbal. “We can talk with the government about improving the laws, but it should not expect any help in making the laws worse,” the opposition members said, adding that the reply to the NA speaker’s letter will be prepared soon.
The joint opposition maintained that any future legislation would be in consonance with parliamentary practice and precedence to achieve the required consensus on issues of national importance.
In their response to the letter of National Assembly Speaker AsadQaiser, who sought opposition parties’ support in parliament over bills related to electoral reforms and accountability laws, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif wrote that matters of wider national interest, especially legislation with far-reaching implications for the people, should be resolved through consensus oriented consultation.
The opposition parties told the speaker that a proper procedure should be followed during the joint sitting of the parliament, implying this will allow an “objective consideration” of the bills referred by the government. The letter pointed out that the NA speaker formed the Committee on Legislative Business on June 23, 2021 to consider the 21 bills passed by the National Assembly on 10th June this year “without allowing the required legislative procedure”.
As per the letter the committee in its three meetings could not even finalise the terms of reference for its procedural jurisdiction due to lack of support by the government members. During this period, all the bills which were to be considered by this committee either lapsed or were rejected by the Senate and were referred to the joint sitting of parliament, “thus completely negating the purpose for which the Committee on Legislative Business was formed”. The huddle was attended by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders ShahidKhaqanAbbasi, AyazSadiq, SadiqRafiq, Marriyum Aurangzeb; Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders Yousaf Raza Gillani, Shazia Marri, Sherry Rehman; and Kamran Murtaza and Shahida Akhtar Ali of the JamiatUlema-e-Islam (JUI).
