• Amended Elections Act passed by joint sitting amid protests
• Interim set-up will be able to take policy decisions related to multilateral, bilateral projects
• Law minister concedes controversial amendment not discussed in committee

ISLAMABAD: Following vociferous opposition from allies and opposition alike to its plan to grant greater powers to the caretaker government, a diluted version of amendments which would allow the interim set-up to take major policy decisions regarding multilateral and bilateral projects was approved by parliament on Wednesday.

It took the joint sitting three to four hours to pass these amendments. At one point, PTI’s Senator Mohsin Aziz pointed out a lack of quorum in an effort to stall the government’s move, but the speaker declared the house in order after a head count.

At the time of the voice vote, three members of the opposition PTI were also present in the House, but they too remained silent, perhaps realising that their shouting would have no impact on the final outcome.

Only Senator Mushtaq Ahmad and Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) could be heard loudly opposing the amendments.

Just before the amendment was put to vote, JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmed regretted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was now even influencing the electoral laws. “This is against the spirit of the Constitution and concept of caretaker governments,” he remarked.

Calling it a ‘soft coup’, he said a foundation had been laid to make the upcoming general elections controversial.

He feared that under the cover of the amended law, the caretakers might extend their term and delay the electoral exercise. Noting that democracy was in trouble, he called for the withdrawal of the amendment.

Tarar’s flip-flop

At the outset of the joint sitting of parliament, when over fifty amendments to the Elections Act were brought through legal manoeuvring, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that except for the amendment in Section 230 dealing with the functions of the caretakers, no member had any objection to the tweaks.

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In a significant shift to the position he took a day earlier, the minister conceded that the controversial amendment did not come under discussion during a meeting of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms. He, however, claimed that the amendment had been posted on the WhatsApp group of the committee five days ago.

He said the chairman in the light of objections raised by the members a day earlier, invited the members again on Wednesday and the amendment was re-examined.

He said the proposals to empower caretakers to attend to ‘urgent matters’ along with day-to-day affairs, and authorising them to make promotions and transfers have been dropped after the opposition from lawmakers.

Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who also heads the panel on electoral reforms, brushed aside the impression that there was any move to install caretakers for a longer time.

He said the powers of the caretakers under the re-drafted amendment had been restricted to ongoing multilateral and bilateral projects, and they will not have the mandate to initiate new projects.

‘Diluted version also unacceptable’

The remarks by two federal ministers, however, failed to address the concerns of many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. PPP stalwart Raza Rabbani made it clear that even the “diluted version of the amendment relating to caretakers was not acceptable”.

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The PPP leader regretted that a “deviation from the constitutional scheme was being made under the IMF’s dictates”.

He said economic and security interests had replaced the mantra of national interest. Stressing that the concept of caretaker governments was for mundane affairs, he said he opposes the diluted version of the proposed amendment as well.

Veteran politician Tahir Bizenjo said the job of caretakers was to hold timely, free and fair polls, insisting that only an elected government can take major decisions be they related to the economy or foreign policy.

PTI Senator Syed Ali Zafar noted that the amendment altogether “changes the concept of constitution, representative government and parliamentary democracy”. He said the concept of caretakers was all about a stop-gap arrangement meant to maintain status quo, and cannot have the powers like an elected government.

Terming the amendment as highly controversial, illegal, unconstitutional and void ab initio, he said it was bound to be struck down by the Supreme Court.

Changes

Under the slightly altered version of the amendment to Section 230 of the elections act, a proviso was added after sub-section 2, which reads, “Provided that sub-sections (1) and (2) shall not apply where the caretaker government has to take actions or decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or the projects already initiated under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, 2017 (VIII of 2017), the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Act, 2022 (XXX of 2022) and the Privatization Commission Ordinance, 2000 (LII of 2000)”.

The two sub-sections mentioned in the amendment restricted the role of caretakers to attend to day-to-day affairs and bar them from taking any controversial decisions that cannot be reversed by the next elected government.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2023