The Senate on Wednesday passed the 'National Counter Terrorism Authority Act of 2013', making a civilian-run entity to be controlled by the armed forces. The Clause 6, Sub-Clause 3 of the bill says that the presence of director-generals (DG) of various intelligence agencies, including Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), would be mandatory in all meetings of board while taking decision on any policy issue.
The board of governors of NCTA would be headed by the prime Minister as chairman, while the remaining members comprised ministers of interior, law and justice, finance and defence, DGs of ISI, MI, IB, FIA chief ministers of all provinces, prime minister of Azad Kashmir, one member each recommended from Senate and National Assembly, chief secretaries of the provinces and Azad Kashmir and Inspector General (IG) of police from all provinces and Azad Kashmir. Law Minister Farooq H Naik tabled the bill and said that the prime minister will be the chairman of the authority.
Raza Rabbani of PPP opposed the bill, saying according to the bill the counter-terrorism authority was not an independent institution, because it would work under the bureaucracy. Opposing various clauses of the bill, Rabbani said that the Clause 6, Sub-Clause 3 provide preeminence of intelligence agencies over the premier, adding that if for any reason DGs of intelligence agencies did not attend the board meeting, the board's chairman [prime minister] will not be able to do anything.
He said that the aim of bill including NCTA as independent body under the chairmanship of prime minister and creating co-ordination between all stakeholders were not addressed in the bill, adding: "We want to bring ISI under parliament to control the role of department." Rabbani was of the view that according to the bill the counter-terrorism authority was not an independent institution, as it would work under the bureaucracy. He also said that the army would command a superior position, as the prime minister would not be able to do anything if head of any agency could attend the meeting.
Rabbani also objected over the inclusion of a federal secretary in the authority's executive committee and questioned his expertise in counter terrorism. The Clause 8, Sub-Clause 1 empowered the federal minister of interior as chairman of the executive committee of NCTA, while the other members of the committee comprised on federal secretaries including ministry of interior, finance, foreign affairs, defence and ministry of law and justice. However, the Senate approved the bill with majority.
The leader of opposition in Senate Ishaq Dar tabled 'The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013' which was unanimously adopted by the house with a big smile on the faces of both opposition of treasury and opposition, saying the got rid of dictators' insertions into the bills. Law Minister Farooq H Naek said that wisdom is more important than education, adding people who created the country, were not all educated. We removed the graduation condition from the bill to make it sure that if a citizen can vote, who can also contest elections.
The amendment bill was aimed to reverse the 'chief executive order No7 of 2002' issued by former president General (Retd) Pervez Musharaf, restricting candidates to submit nomination paper in person. However, after passing of amendment bill, nomination papers could be delivered to the returning officer by the candidate or any person authorised in writing by the and the returning officer will acknowledge the receipt of the nomination paper.
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