ISLAMABAD: After many delays from its scheduled time to begin the National Assembly session, especially summoned to pass the controversial 26th Constitutional Amendment, the house was subsequently adjourned on Saturday before midnight without taking up any business as the government failed to build consensus on the highly controversial piece of legislation.
After delaying the session thrice due to lack of consensus with the opposition, the government was expected to meet to mull the judicial reform package.
The 9:30am cabinet meeting was postponed till 10am, then till 12pm and was then supposed to meet at 2pm, seeing a total of four delays.
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NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq later changed the time for the assembly session to 7pm from 3pm. It was again later changed for the third time to 9:30pm.
However, the house proceedings could not start even at 9:30pm, due to no finalization of the draft of the proposed bill, leaving the chair with no option but to resume the session at 11:50pm – midnight – just to adjourn the house till Sunday at 11:30am.
The deputy speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah adjourned the house shortly after the recitation from the holy Quran, Hadith and playing the national anthem.
The government failed to present the proposed amendment bill in the house for the third consecutive day, as discussions over the proposed changes remained unresolved.
After numerous political twists and turns, the government and opposition members failed to reach any consensus on a joint draft of the 26th Constitutional Amendment till filing of this report.
If the cabinet approves the draft of the proposed amendments, it will be presented in National Assembly today (Sunday) after its passage from Senate.
After reaching a consensus with JUI-F, the coalition government is expected to table the proposed constitutional amendment bill in the house on Sunday (today) after a PTI delegation’s meeting with its jailed leader Imran Khan at Adiala Jail.
Earlier in the day, speaking a presser, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the consultation process was still underway with the government striving to achieve a complete consensus on the issue.
Recounting the various political meetings occurring in the past few days, Tarar said: “Despite the numbers and homework being complete, the attempt was made not to stop the consultation process and achieve broader consensus because when a constitutional amendment takes place, it is our obligation to not only bring all political parties onboard but have a fruitful debate on every clause to take it to a logical conclusion.”
He reiterated that the consultation was “speedily under way” and was further hastened with the government aiming to complete it at any cost today. He claimed that no prior amendment was subject to as much debate as the current one.
“As (PPP Chairman) Bilawal said yesterday. We have other options present but we are democratic-minded people and it is our effort to move forward on this matter after a complete consensus.”
He reiterated that there were “other options” present to the government and there was “no issue” in the number of lawmakers required to pass the package but democratic societies and people aimed to play their role in consensus building.
Prodded by reporters to elaborate on the “other options”, Tarar said: “We have those other options present while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution and the law but the thinking is present in our leadership to try till the last attempt to develop an overall consensus with all political parties.”
He said the other options would be exercised in the “greater interest”.
Similarly, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also maintained that the government was pursuing a broad consensus on the constitutional package in both houses of parliament despite the government’s numbers being “pretty much complete”.
Addressing a press conference at Parliament House, he said, “We want to develop broad-based consensus in both the assembly and the Senate so that this legislation is passed.”
Meanwhile, talking to the media at Parliament House, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub alleged that seven PTI lawmakers were “abducted” and the party was not in contact with them and was trying to trace them.
He said it would soon be known if the government really had the required number of lawmakers to pass the package and who was voting for it. However, the Senate session was also adjourned till Sunday, 3:00 PM.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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