ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed a bill to amend the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act to limit its scope in Balochistan to the Reko Diq project.

The development comes on the heels of an assurance that Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar gave earlier this week that the law would be Reko Diq-specific. He had also said then that the law would be suitably amended at a later stage after both houses of parliament had passed the bill.

Section 1(2) of the original bill, bulldozed through the two houses of parliament on Dec 12 amid protest by members from the ruling coalition, said it “will extend to whole of Pakistan”.

Under the amendment passed on Friday, after the word “Pakistan”, these lines “but for the purpose of Balochistan province, it shall only apply to the qualified investment of Reko Diq project as mentioned in schedules and annexures of this Act” have been added.

Senate condemns malicious, negative propaganda against Qatar over Fifa event

“The purpose of the subject amendment is to clarify the scope and application of the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act 2022…”.

But, interestingly, subsection 4 of Section 1 continues to read, “It shall be applicable to all qualified investments along with such incentives as enacted or notified by the federal government [from] time to time”.

It may be recalled that the original bill was seen by many lawmakers of the ruling coalition as a move aimed at rolling back the 18th Amendment.

Mr Tarar had on Dec 12 sought cooperation of all members for the passage of the bill in its original form due to time constraint, holding out the assurance that a suitable amendment would be introduced later.

The house passed the amendment bill amid uproar by members from the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) who protested for the third consecutive against the arrest of Senator Azam Khan Swati.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar moved the amendment bill after Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani suspended the questions hour session on his request.

As the finance minister, who is also the leader of house, rose in his seat to introduce the bill, the PTI lawmakers started raising slogans of “release Azam Swati” and gathered in front of the chairman’s podium. They tore apart copies of the agenda and tossed them into the air.

In the meantime, the sergeant-at-arms gathered around Mr Dar’s seat to avoid any untoward incident.

The chairman congratulated the people of Balochistan and Pakistan and all incumbent and previous governments on the passage of amendments to the law.

“It is a good bill and it will encourage investments,” he said, adding that this law belonged to his home district Chagai and “proves to be a good omen for the people of the area”. This will provide protection to businessmen in future, he added.

‘Industrial relations bill’

Later, Minister of State for Law Shahadat Awan moved the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the house.

The bill was referred to the standing committee concerned.

After transacting most of the agenda amid uproar, Chairman Sanjrani asked the opposition benches if they were not serious in talking about the important issues.

“Are you (people) not serious and don’t (you) want to talk,” he said before proroguing the session.

Qatar showered with praise At the outset of the proceedings, the house unanimously adopted a resolution felicitating Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and people of the Gulf state for successfully hosting the Fifa World Cup 2022 in the country.

The resolution, moved by Senator Sarfraz Bugti, stated that arrangements for the World Cup were exemplary and Qatar has provided the best available facilities to visitors and the participating teams.

It said the house condemns all deliberate, malicious and negative propaganda instigated against Qatar for holding the successful event.

The resolution added that people of Pakistan are proud of Qatar and its people as it is the first Muslim and Gulf state to host the Fifa World Cup.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2022