• Proposed legislation also seeks to allow dual nationals to contest general elections
• Opposition points out lack of quorum, stages walkout

ISLAMABAD: Despite clearly lacking numbers and even struggling to maintain quorum, the government on Wednesday finally presented in the National Assembly the 26th Constitution Amendment Bill seeking open Senate vote and giving right to dual nationals to contest the general elections for a discussion and vote amid ruckus by the opposition parties.

The government presented the bill at a time when the Senate elections are only weeks away and the Supreme Court was still hearing the presidential reference seeking open vote for the Senate in order to prevent horse-trading and trade of votes during the Senate polls.

As soon as Law Minister Farogh Naseem moved the controversial amendment bill for “consideration at once” after the question hour, a noisy opposition’s protest erupted in the House and it continued throughout the proceedings due to which most of the speeches could not be heard properly in the galleries.

Interestingly, in a tit-for-tat move, when the Speaker gave floor to the opposition members to speak, the treasury members also raised slogans declaring that they would also not let the opposition members speak if the latter would create disturbance during their speeches.

The opposition staged walkout three times after pointing out quorum in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings and prevent the government from presenting the bill for discussion, but each time the chair declared the House in order after a head count. However, each time the opposition pointed out quorum, the treasury members were seen running here and there and calling their members from the lobbies to the assembly hall in order to maintain the quorum for which the presence of one-fourth (86 members) of the 342-member House is required.

For the passage of a constitution amendment bill, a vote by two-third members (228 lawmakers) is needed in the National Assembly — a number which was clearly not present at any time during the over-four-hour-long proceedings. According to the daily observation report of Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), a total of 106 members, including those from the opposition, were present in the House when Speaker Asad Qaiser adjourned the proceedings till Thursday morning (today).

According to the assembly agenda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan was to present the bill but the Speaker gave the floor to the law minister who first showed reluctance saying that the bill stood in the name of Mr Awan in the agenda, but later read out the motion.

At one point of time when the chair gave floor to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Ahsan Iqbal, he started criticising the government over opposition’s “political victimisation” and price hike instead of speaking on the bill. The law minister pointed out that since the opposition did not want to speak on the bill, it should be put before the House for a vote. However, realising the fact that the government did not have the required numbers, the Speaker instead of putting it for a vote, kept on asking the opposition members to take part in the general discussion on the bill.

When the law minister started presenting salient features and objectives of the bill, the opposition members kept on raising anti-government slogans and blowing whistles. Some opposition members gathered in front of the Speaker’s dais and tore the copies of the bill and the agenda and flew their pieces in the air. The opposition members shouted they would not let the government “steal the Senate elections”.

Mr Iqbal alleged that the government was bringing the bill, as it knew that its allies were not ready to vote for “the friends of Imran Khan” in the upcoming Senate elections.

In an apparent reference to federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, Mr Iqbal alleged that the government had moved the bill allowing dual nationals to contest the polls at a time when a disqualification case on the same ground against a federal minister was about to be concluded in a court.

The PML-N stalwart questioned the haste being shown by the government and declared that they would not allow the government to bulldoze the Constitution. He said the government had got the bill passed through the standing committee in 20 minutes.

Mr Iqbal asked Prime Minister Imran Khan why he had not pursued the “transparency” during last year vote of no confidence against the Senate chairman. He also asked the government to bring a comprehensive package if it was serious in doing electoral reforms. He accused the Speaker of conducting the House in a biased manner and alleged that the PML-N’s motions and notices were not being included in the agenda despite the fact that it was the largest opposition party.

The Speaker, however, denied the charge.

Mr Iqbal also lashed out at the prime minister for constantly calling the opposition leaders “thieves and robbers” and dubbing them anti-state people. He said the opposition would no more tolerate such an abusive language against it and would respond in the same manner.

‘Mala fide intent’

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf while responding to the slogans from the treasury benches during his speech said they were intentionally spoiling the atmosphere, as the ruling party knew that it was not in a position to get the bill passed which, he alleged, the government was bringing with a “mala fide intent”.

“These people (treasury members) have become a stigma and an insult for the parliament,” Mr Ashraf said, alleging that Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari had made some objectionable gestures towards PPP lawmaker Agha Rafiullah.

Ms Mazari, however, refuted the allegation and accused the PPP MNA from Karachi of abusing women members of the PTI. She also asked the chair to suspend Mr Rafiullah’s membership over this act. The Speaker, however, ignored the minister’s call, realising the sensitivity of the matter as any such move could further aggravate the tense situation.

Defending the bill, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its coalition parties had taken practical measures to end the involvement of money in the Senate elections. He said the Charter of Democracy signed by former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif also called for open and transparent Senate elections, but the PPP and the PML-N were “running away” from their commitment.

“These people (opposition) want that elections be sold again. The Senate be sold again, consciences be sold again and a market of the MPAs be set up. If this is not the case, there is only one way, and that is to have this amendment to the Constitution,” he believed, claiming that lawmakers would not be able to cast vote against the party line after the amendment.

Also, an amendment to Article 63(1)(c) that the government sought would allow dual national Pakistanis to contest elections, said Mr Awan adding that the opposition in the committee meeting had proposed that the dual national person should renounce the nationality at the time of submission of nomination papers. However, he said, in case of losing the elections, the candidate would have no remedy. The bill suggests that a dual national will have to renounce the citizenship of the other country after winning the election and before taking the oath.

When the chair gave floor to Minister for Communications from Swat Murad Saeed, the opposition members did not allow him to speak, first by pointing out quorum and then by raising slogans and desk-thumping. Interestingly, Mr Saeed delivered the same speech he had delivered over a dozen times, accusing the opposition leaders of committing corruption and receiving kickbacks and commissions. He also challenged PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif to once again return to Pakistan and face the trial.

Earlier, during the question hour, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed through a written reply informed the House that presently a total of 759 criminals were waiting for execution in various prisons across the country.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2021