NA completes term on Aug 12: Lower house of parliament opens its last session

ISLAMABAD: The lower house of parliament opened its last session on Thursday as the incumbent National Assembly is going to complete its five-year constitutional term on August 12 at midnight.

The farewell session chaired by NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf started two-and-a-half-hour late, in which the lawmakers expressed their gratitude to the masses as well as to the outgoing prime minister Shehbaz Sharif for their support throughout their term in the house.

The session would be adjourned sine die in the second week of next month. Ironically, the house which consists of 342 members would be having 216 members – less than two-thirds number of the legislature – when it would be dissolved in mid-August.

Its mandated five-year term would culminate on August 13 at midnight but it could be dissolved by the leader of the house three or four days ahead of it so that the election campaign could prolong for 90 days.

It will be the 53rd session of the NA and the secretariat has issued agenda containing 24 items which could come up for discussion on the first day of the outgoing assembly’s last session.

Speaking in the house, Aslam Bhutani, a lawmaker from Balochistan, said that he was elected in the 2018 elections despite being not a favourite candidate of the powerful military establishment known for calling the shots in the restive province.

There has always been a controlled democracy in Balochistan, he said, adding this is the reason some people are not happy with people at the helm of affairs especially the establishment, for which there is a need to initiate a dialogue to bridge the trust deficit between Rawalpindi – military establishment – and the estranged Baloch leaders.

He called upon the Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir to play his due role in allowing the people of Balochistan to choose its representatives as handpicking of a handful of blue-eyed through rigging in elections is the major reason behind the unrest in the volatile province.

“If the new military establishment led by Gen Asim Munir “leases out” the upcoming Balochistan government, the situation will become even worse. If you [the military establishment] are still planning to lease it out to a handful of opportunist politicians, then better lease it out to the dacoits of Kacha, or Dera Ghazi Khan, as they’re far better than those running the province,” he declared.

Mohsin Dawar, an independent MNA from erstwhile tribal areas, said that the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) must not be treated the way they are being treated, adding those sitting here will have to meet the same fate if whatever is being done to the PTI-walas is not stopped.

Meanwhile, the house also passed two bills which included the Pakistan Airports Authority Bill, 2022 and the Pakistan Civil Aviation Bill, 2022, with amendments.

The statement of objects and reasons of the Pakistan Airports Authority Bill, 2022 states:

Considering the sensitivity of operations and involvement of airspace being a strategic asset, the role of the Civil Aviation in Pakistan shall be bifurcated into two entities: one responsible for the regulation of civil aviation activities in Pakistan and the other will be responsible for the provision of civil aviation services and development of aviation infrastructure in Pakistan.

“Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) will be entrusted with regulatory in Pakistan whereas Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) will be entrusted with commercial and operational aspects of airports,” it added.

It further said that the existing institutional arrangement and legal instruments envisage regulatory as well as service provider roles being performed by a single entity which is tantamount to infringement upon the regulatory functions being performed by the regulatory authority.

To improve services, enhance efficiency at airports and comply with the standard and recommended practices (SARPs) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an institutional arrangement is needed to create separate authorities for civil aviation regulations and services provision, it added.

Eight bills were introduced in the house, which include the Archival Material (Preservation and Export Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the National Archives (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Anti-Dumping Duties (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Press Council of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the National Institute of Health (Re-Organization) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Apostille (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Gun and Country Club Bill, 2023.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023