ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri on Tuesday disallowed presentation of a constitution amendment bill moved by an opposition member seeking formation of a special bipartisan parliamentary committee for carrying out investigations into the charges against a member of the parliament before his or her arrest by any investigation or law enforcement agency after it was forcefully opposed by the government.

The bill seeking an amendment to Article 66 of the Constitution which relates to the “privileges of members” had been submitted by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA from Sargodha Syed Javed Hasnain and it was supported by other opposition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Opposition’s bill seeks formation of special bipartisan parliamentary body for carrying out investigation into charges against parliamentarians

When after putting the motion for introduction of the bill for a voice vote, the deputy speaker announced that he could not allow introduction of the bill, the opposition members challenged his ruling and demanded a physical vote count, Ignoring the opposition’s call, Mr Suri, however, announced suspension of the proceedings for Maghrib prayers a break leaving the opposition members protesting.

When the house resumed proceedings after the break, the opposition members again protested over the chair’s ruling and asked him to put the bill for a vote again, but he refused to do so.

While arguing in support of his bill, Mr Hasnain said if the parliament was a supreme institution then its members must be respected and protected. He said no one could arrest a judge or an employee of the Pakistan Army. On the other hand, he said the institutions picked up politicians at their will without investigating the charges.

The PML-N MNA said according to the constitution, the parliament was the most supreme body in the country and its members represented 220 million people of Pakistan, but whenever an institution wanted, it got the members of parliament arrested and humiliated on the pretext of inquiry and investigation.

Reading out from the bill, Mr Hasnain said, “if a member of the parliament is wanted by a body/department in respect of any case for arrest, investigation or inquiry, the said body/department shall inform the speaker and the chairman Senate in writing.”

“The National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman shall refer the matter to a parliamentary committee which shall investigate and inquire into the matter and shall decide whether the handing over of the wanted member, to the said body/ department, is appropriate or not.”

“In the said committee of the National Assembly and the Senate, the number of the members representing the government and the opposition shall be equal and these committees shall investigate and inquire into the matters of members of their respective houses,” says the draft of the bill, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

It says that the institutions arrested the legislators then “force them to change their political affiliation by blackmailing them. After passage of long time, they are declared innocent. In all such circumstances, the parliament is disgraced. So it is extremely necessary to give protection and respect to the members of the parliament in order to make the parliament supreme in real terms.”

Opposing the bill, parliamentary secretary for law and justice Maleeka Bukhari said the government would not allow formation of a supra body and the powers to arrest the politicians should remain with the institutions.

PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar while speaking in support of the bill said both the army and the judiciary had their own internal systems of investigations, but unfortunately the parliament did not do so.

The government, though reluctantly, allowed introduction of a constitution amendment bill moved by independent MNA Mohsin Dawar seeking to retain the eight seats of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in the Senate despite its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Heated exchange of arguments

Meanwhile, the assembly witnessed a heated exchange of arguments between the members of the PPP and federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan during a discussion on a calling attention notice “regarding the government’s failure to meet international obligations leading to seizing of Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Scribe Hotel in Paris and not allowing PIA to fly in Malaysia.”

The minister received a severe flak from the PPP members when as usual he once again put the blame for the imp­­ounding of the PIA plane in Mal­aysia and the decision of the Interna­tional Court of Justice (ICJ) to attach the government properties in the Reko Diq case on the previous rulers.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2021