ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice will be meeting for three consecutive days this week to take up over a dozen private member’s bills, including seven constitution amendment bills.

The agenda for the meeting starting from July 13 issued by the NA Secretariat shows that the committee headed by Riaz Fatyana of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will take up a total of 16 bills, mostly moved by the opposition members.

The data available on the assembly’s website reveals that at present nearly 300 government and private member’s bills are pending before various committees at a time when the house is completing its third parliamentary year next month.

The most important bills are the ones moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA from Sargodha Syed Javed Hasnain that seek to make mandatory for the Supreme Court and the high courts to decide the appeals in the death sentence cases within 90 days and six months, respectively.

Through one of the two bills, the mover has sought an amendment to Article 185 of the constitution, titled “Appellate Juri­sdiction of Supreme Court”, and he has suggested insertion of a new Clause 4 in the said article.

Bills binding courts to decide appeals against death sentence within a time frame on agenda

The amendment suggested reads: “An accused whose death sentence has been confirmed by the high court has right to appeal in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court shall decide on this appeal within 90 days.”

“The Statement of Objects and Reasons” attached to the bill reads: “It is a common practice in our society that when a person is murdered for any reason an FIR (first information report) is launched (with the police) against some innocent people. Sometime, these innocent (persons) are sentenced to death and their trial have been going on for many years. Sometime after 15 to 20 years, the Supreme Court acquits these persons.

“It is unfortunate and painful that he spends his youth in prison and his newly-wed wife has spent her youth in his wait and search for the justice that it will knock her door one day. Her status is neither a widow nor a bride and she spends her youth sobbing.”

Therefore, it says, an appeal against death penalty must be decided immediately.

Mr Hasnain has also submitted another bill seeking to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1898, making it binding on provincial high courts to decide the appeals in such cases within six months. He has suggested an amendment to Section 376 of the CrPC.

While moving the two bills in the assembly last month, the PML-N lawmaker had pleaded for acceptance of his bills highlighting the miseries and ordeal of the family members of the accused in murder cases.

The committee is also set to take up three bills that have been moved by independent MNA from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas Mohsin Dawar.

Through one bill, Mr Dawar has called for changing the name of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province to “Pakhtunkhwa” through amendments to articles 1, 51 and 106 of the Constitution.

“The people of KP province have been deprived of their historic name for their province since independence. Previously, North West Frontier Province, and now called the KP, the name is impractical,” reads the Statement of Objects and Reasons attached to the bill.

Another important bill has been moved by PTI MNA from Mianwali Amjid Ali Khan seeking an amendment to Article 11 to increase the age limit for the child labour from 14 to 18 years.

Under Article 11, slavery, human trafficking and forced labour have been prohibited and declared a crime. Article 11(3) says: “No child below the age of fourteen years shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment.”

The PTI legislator has suggested that this age limit should be increased to 18 years in line with the international conventions with regard to child labour.

“The international community sees the child Iabour with disliking and put restrictions on the exports of that country which involves child labour. The international community has set some standards for the abandonment of this curse; therefore, time demands that we should put our laws up to date and in consonance with rest of the world,” says the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill.

It says: “The Constitution of Pakistan does not provide any definition of the child. However, legislators and interpreters take reference of Articles 11 and 25A. These both articles are contextual and do not provide general reference for defining a child in line with the UNCRC. Therefore, this vacuum must be filed to bring the laws in conformity with the international conventions.”

“The Majority Act Section 3, paragraph (2) says that every other person domiciled in Pakistan shall be deemed to have attained his majority when he shall have completed his age of 18 years and not before,” says Mr Khan in the bill.

The MNA has also quoted a number of laws which have defined “minor” as a person below the age of 19. These laws include the Guardian and Wards Act, 1890; the National Registration Act, 1973; the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929; the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979; the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act, 2011; the KP Child Protection Welfare Act, 2010, and the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act, 2004.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2021