ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary body Friday passed a bill seeking amendment to Article 223 of the Constitution to limit participation in general election by one candidate to only two seats, and in case the candidate wins both the seats he will bore the expenses of by-election.
The committee, which met with MNA Riaz Fatyana in the chair, passed "the Constitution Amendment (Amendment) Bill 2019 moved by MNA Junaid Akbar."
Akbar told the committee that under the Constitution of Pakistan, the candidates were permitted to participate in the election on more then one seat.
If the candidate wins more than one seat, he must resign from all except one of his seats and then fresh election occurs on the same seats.
"This is waste of taxpayer's money; therefore, participation of one candidate in election should be limited to two seats, and the expenses of by-election on the seat he resigned from in case the candidate wins both the seats shall be borne by the winning candidate himself," he said.
When some of the members of the committee opposed the bill including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)'s Naveed Qamar and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan (MMAP), then the committee conducted voting on the bill as a result six lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, while five opposed it.
The committee also took notice of the rape of a woman on Lahore motorway and summoned high ups of the motorway police, and the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore to appear before the committee.
The committee also expressed anger over the comments of the CCPO Lahore regarding the incident and sought report from him.
Fatyana said that protection of life and property was the responsibility of the state; therefore, exemplary punishment should be given to the culprit involved in that incident.
"The committee should be briefed that what was the reason for not deputing motorway police on the same motorway, which had been in operations in March," he said that it should also be ascertained that which department was responsible for controlling crime on motorway.
MNA Mehmood Bashir Virk said that it was a very shameful incident, and hands of culprits involved in this gory incident should be chopped off.
The committee also issued directives to the government of Punjab to conduct psychological counseling of the woman and her children.
MNA Kishwer Zehra, while condemning the incident, said that there was a dire need of reforms in the police department as police always misused their powers.
The statement of the CCPO Lahore regarding the incident was very shameful, she said.
Nafisa Shah MNA said that the statement of the CCPO Lahore had humiliated the victim woman; therefore, the committee must demand the removal of the CCPO from his post.
The committee deferred the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2019 moved by MNA Junid Akbar till next meeting for further discussion.
According to statements of objects and reasons of the bill, the Constitution of Pakistan provides proportional representative system for the election on reserved seats for women and non-Muslims.
Due to this system, some areas of the country get more representation, while some are un-represented.
For equal representation of different areas on reserved seats, of women and non-Muslims, in the national assembly, direct election is proposed, it says.
The committee asked all members to discuss the bill within their respective parties and inform the committee within one month regarding their point of view.
The committee also took up a public petition of Shahnaz Begum regarding murder of her two sons in the limits of Ludan Police Station, District Vehari.
Shahnaz Begum told the committee that her two sons were brutally murdered by the police in 2018 but she was still running from pillar to post for justice.
Naveed Qamar said that apparently this seems a matter of injustice and justice must be provided to the victim family.
But first it should be ascertained that whether the matter placed before the committee fall under its domain or not, he said, adding that this human rights issue was related to the government of Punjab, and they should deal it.
MNA Sher Ali Arbab also said that no doubt injustice was being meted out to the family but we need to take up matters, which come under the jurisdiction of this committee.
"We as parliamentarians should not give false hope to the public," he said, adding that the parliament had discussed in detail Sahiwal incident but to no avail.
On this, the chairman of the committee got angered, and said that he would not take any public petition in the future as members were not cooperating with him.
"It means, we close our eyes and give free hand to the police," he said, adding that practically Pakistan had become a police state. Fatyana told the mother whose two sons were murdered that "we are unable to do something for you; therefore, go to the mosque and pray for yourself."
Some of the committee members suggested that the issue was related to the jurisdiction of the committee not be discussed in formal meeting, and be discussed later.
Later, the committee directed the Home Department Punjab to ask the district and session judge to look into the matter.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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