ISLAMABAD: Senators from different political parties on Tuesday called into question the caretakers government’s move to legislate, with just 45 days left before the general election. As a result of the outcry and subsequent ruckus, as well as a lack of quorum, the Senate chairman was forced to adjourn proceedings until Friday.

As per the day’s agenda, caretaker ministers were supposed to introduce four bills in the Senate, besides laying an equal number of ordinances before the house.

But when caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi began to introduce a bill seeking amendment to The Motion Pictures Ordinance, 1979, senators from different political parties, including PML-N and PTI, raised objection.

The lawmakers wondered what the urgency was to introduce legislative business at a time when parliament was incomplete. They also disputed the promulgation of ordinances. PML-N Senator Saadia Abbasi was the first to raise an objection, pointing out that the caretaker government had no mandate to legislate and ordinances as well as bills on the orders of the day couldn’t be introduced and laid.

Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said that the laying of ordinances was tantamount to misusing Article 89 of the Constitution, adding that caretakers were only supposed to perform day-to-day affairs of the government under Section 230 of Elections Act, 2017.

He said that caretaker government aimed to introduce strategic legislation, including amendments to financial and economic laws, which was not day-to-day mater. “The move is aimed at bypassing the parliament, constitution, democracy and masses.”

When Information Minister Solangi rose from his seat to table the Motion Pictures (Amendment) Bill, the senators protested and sought a vote on it.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani insisted that the bills be sent to the relevant committee, adding that the proposed laws would be placed before parliament after both houses were complete. “This is the prerogative of the government,” he said.

But Leader of the Opposition Dr Shahzad Waseem also endorsed the viewpoint of other lawmakers, saying that the caretaker government had no mandate to legislate.

He said that the caretaker government should explain the necessity of bringing these ordinances and bills.

PTI Senator Dr Hamayun Mohmand said that all the bills and ordinances were not that important that they couldn’t wait till February 8, the date fixed for the general elections of the national and provincial assemblies.

On this, the chair told the information minister to explain the reasons behind the necessity in bringing these bills and ordinances. The minister told the house that the promulgation of ordinances was the right of the government under Article 89 of the Constitution. He said that it was mandatory for the government to lay ordinances in the form of bills.

“This is the job of the house to decide on the matter,” he said. The members, however, continued with their noisy protest and quorum was also pointed out. A count ordered by the chair found the house was not in order and the session was adjourned to meet again on Friday at 10.30am.

Airports outsourcing

Earlier, during Question Hour, the Senate was informed that the government has decided to gradually outsource three international airports of the country

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Aviation retired Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Shah said these include Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi airports. The outsourcing process, he said, will be conducted in phases through an open bidding system.

The Islamabad International Airport has been selected to be outsourced at first and it would be outsourced for 15 years whereas the time period of the remaining airports would be decided by the federal government.

Air Marshal Shah informed the House that PIA has suffered Rs292.68 billion loss in five years from 2018 to 2022, with the maximum loss of over Rs88bn in 2022 alone. He said the PIA has accumulative liabilities of Rs809bn as of June 30, 2023. Such a huge volume of liabilities and mark-up payments has adversely affected PIA operations, he said, adding that taking cognisance of the situation, the government has decided to privatise it.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2023