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ISLAMABAD: The question of missing legislators haunted both houses of parliament on Friday as the Senate was unable to pass the 24th constitutional amendment, passed by the National Assembly a day earlier.
Certain ruling party MNAs also made the startling claim that they had received threatening phone calls from ‘unknown’ numbers, warning them not to attend the sitting of the lower house that voted on the amendment.
In the upper house, the absence of at least two-thirds of lawmakers meant that the passage of the 24th amendment bill, which is meant to pave the way for the timely conduct of the 2018 general elections, could not be voted on.
Only 58 of the 104 senators were present in the house when the bill seeking to allow the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies and providing for the reallocation of seats in the National Assembly on the basis of provisional census results was to be introduced, prompting the chair to defer the agenda item till Monday.
A minimum of 69 members are required to pass a constitutional amendment bill.
MNA claims PML-N legislators received calls from unknown numbers warning them to stay away from Thursday’s sitting
None of the seven senators of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) were present, while only two of the eight Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) senators turned up. Out of eight senators from Fata, only two were in the house when the bill was to be taken up.
Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Sherry Rehman, Sassui Palejo, Murtaza Wahab, Dr Karim Khawaja, Hari Ram, Gyan Chand, Rozi Khan Kakar and Yusuf Badini; Ishaq Dar, Mushahidullah Khan, Sardar Yaqub Nasar, Professor Sajid Mir, Zulfiqar Khosa, Naimatullah Zehri and Agha Shahzaib Durrani of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N); Awami National Party’s (ANP) Shahi Syed, Sitara Ayaz and Zahida Khan; and Robina Irfan of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) were also absent.
However, the house passed a bill seeking to amend the Elections Act 2017, which restores a declaration regarding Khatm-i-Nubuwat to its original form and makes sections relating to the Ahmadi community more effective. Sections 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 have also been restored to their original form through the bill.
Law Minister Zahid Hamid told Dawn that the 24th constitution amendment bill would be passed by the Senate on Monday.
Threats to PML-N lawmakers?
Around two dozen PML-N legislators abstained from the voting held in the National Assembly on Thursday, even though they attended the session. According to the NA website, 265 MNAs attended the session but only 243 of them voted.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Power Minister Abid Sher Ali and Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik were notable among those who were absent.
On Friday, the ruling party took serious notice of the abstentions by party MNAs and decided to initiate disciplinary action against them.
PML-N leader MNA Mian Abdul Mannan told Dawn that 41 ruling party MNAs were missing; four were sick, 12 were out of the country and eight to 10 could not reach parliament in time.
But complaints regarding the “unknown calls” echoed in Parliament House on Friday, and the turnout remained quite low for a second day in a row, as the session lasted for just half an hour and was adjourned until Monday when a lack of quorum was pointed out.
“Only a few PML-N MNAs intentionally abstained from the vote. We know who they are,” Mr Mannan said.
He said that more than 20 party legislators had received threatening calls, asking them not to attend the NA session on Thursday.
“I am a witness to a meeting in the speaker’s office, where 15 to 20 MNAs lodged complaints with Ayaz Sadiq regarding calls from unknown numbers,” he said.
Mr Mannan claimed that after Friday’s session, he called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and was shocked to see that the abstaining legislators were sitting with him. They regretted that they were stuck in a traffic jam and could not reach Parliament House in time for the vote, he said.
Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2017
