ISLAMABAD: In a move that surprised many, the government opposed in the Senate on Monday a constitutional amendment bill seeking to increase the number of high court benches across the country to provide inexpensive justice to the litigants.

The bill sought to be moved by PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi was opposed by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on the plea that the bill in its present form would disturb the concept of trichotomy of powers and amount to interference of parliament in the domain of the executive — a view rejected by the opposition.

After a heated debate, the bill was put to vote. Though 57 votes were cast in favour and 13 against it, the move failed as a constitutional amendment bill requires a two-thirds majority (at least 69 senators in the 104-member house) for its passage.

The opposition staged a walkout from the house in protest against the government’s behaviour.

Opposition stages walkout from Senate in protest against government’s attitude; landmark bill seeking to raise Balochistan PA seats from 65 to 80 passed

Earlier, Javed Abbasi, who heads the Senate Standing Committee on Law, said the bill passed by the committee with consensus would ease the lives of hundreds of thousands of litigants who had to travel from far-flung areas and bear the cost of hotel bills and incur additional expenditure on their counsel.

Ali Mohammad Khan, though hailing the spirit of the bill, insisted that there were technical problems and asked the chair to refer the matter to the committee again. He suggested the government and the opposition bring a consensus bill.

After the move for bill’s passage fizzled out, Javed Abbasi said the ruling PTI stood exposed and it had become known to all that they were not interested in providing inexpensive justice to people. He said the bill had been defeated only because it had been brought by the opposition.

The Lahore High Court, besides its principal seat in the provincial capital, has benches in Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur, and the bill had sought four more benches in Punjab — one each in Sargodha, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi Khan.

The Sindh High Court, besides its principal seat in Karachi, has only one bench in Sukkur and the bill had sought additional benches in Hyderabad and Larkana.

The Peshawar High Court, besides its principal seat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa capital, has benches in Abbotabad, Mingora and Dera Ismael Khan and the bill had sought benches in Mohmand Agency and North Waziristan as well.

The Balochistan High Court, besides principal seat in Quetta, has benches in Sibi and Turbat and the bill had proposed new benches in Khuzdar and Loralai.

The opposition members were later persuaded to come to the house for voting on another bill.

The house passed a constitutional amendment bill seeking to raise the number of seats in the Balochistan Assembly from 65 to 80. In a rare demonstration of concord, all the 71 members present in the house voted in favour of the bill to get it passed unanimously.

The original bill titled “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 51 and 106)”, tabled by around 20 senators from Balochistan, proposed to increase the number of seats for Balochistan in the national and provincial assemblies.

In view of the support for the bill across the party lines, it is set to comfortably sail through the National Assembly to become an act of parliament after the president’s assent.

PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman said that Article 63 of the Constitution clearly stated that a member of the parliament stands disqualified if he acquires the citizenship of a foreign state. Some members have been disqualified for life from both the houses under this article. Then under what reason and morality, special assistants to the prime minister have taken oath of two countries, she wondered.

Senator Rehman said that discussion on the media in this connection had exposed the performance of the government politically and morally. She said Prime Minister Imran Khan had himself opposed dual nationality of lawmakers, adding that only Pakistanis should have a role in decision making. She said dual nationals couldn’t be given jobs in sensitive organisations. She said the prime minister used to say that Pakistanis should run the affairs of the country.

Former Senate chairman and PPP stalwart Mian Raza Rabbani also criticised the government and said that when a person took the oath of allegiance to another country, he gave his loyalty to that country. He stressed that those duals nationals who were being allowed to sit in the cabinet to make import decisions were not eligible to become members of parliament.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2020