The government had to face embarrassment in Senate on Wednesday after 'The Constitution (28 Amendment Bill, 2017' was deferred till March 28 due to lack of required number of 70 in 104-member House to pass the bill with two-third majority. Fewer members were present on both treasury and opposition benches, but the situation turned ugly when two government coalition partners Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) along with National Party-Mengal, a 1-member independent party, announced to abstain from voting on the bill.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also turned up in the House after a long time, as he seldom comes to the upper House of Parliament despite complaints from the senators. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar along with Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid kept moving inside and outside the House in a bid to ensure the presence of the senators but to no avail. The duo did make hectic efforts to pass the bill in presence of the prime minister but finding no hope Ishaq Dar whispered something in the ear of the PM, in result PM left the House without making any statement while a rostrum had already been arranged for him.
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani who kept presiding over the session with a gloomy face with off and on directives to stick to the subject, said, "It is an adverse day for all of us as we are going to vote for extension of military courts without our conscience."
Maulana Attaur Rehman of JUI-F moved 2 amendments to omit the terms 'religion and sect' from the bill, but they were rejected through voice during second reading of the bill.
Earlier debating on the bill, the opposition members urged the government to ensure that this 2-year extension of military courts is the last ever term of military courts and all-out efforts should be made to strengthen the judicial system.
"Today is the heaviest day for all of us as we are going to vote on the bill but we will have to tell the people why we are doing this. God forbid we are going to have the bitter pill, which may turn out to be poisonous for us," said Sherry Rehman of PPPP.
She regretted that it is the fault of the political parties, as they are the people who let it happen, adding the military is trained to do things like this, and the politicians should do whatever they can to come out of the terrible situation. Senator Usman Khan Kakar of PkMAP said that military courts are no solution to the problem, whatever is being done under shape of military courts' extension is nothing but to hide one's own sins.
He said there is wrong impression that civil judges failed against the hardcore terrorists, he called for strengthening the civilian courts, saying the civil judges had set examples by not bowing before the military dictators."Our judge refused to resign when a dictator asked him to quit at gunpoint," he said while referring to Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, former chief justice who refused to quit when Pervez Musharraf pressured him to do so back in 2007.
Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini, an independent senator of NP-Mengal, questioned for how long the civilians will remain dependent on the military? "I have no complaint with the military as it is doing a great job, but such amendments will ultimately weaken the democratic institutions, as instead of strengthening democracy, we are strengthening a single institution," he added.
Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) blamed the civilians for the downfall of the country's judicial system, saying the democratic institutions must not take refuge under the doctrine of necessity to hide their weaknesses.
Senator Azam Swati of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) went hard to the extent in saying that Parliament should also be handed over to the military, as the civilians have failed to do anything at their own. Chairman Senate Rabbani immediately ordered to expunge the sentence, "the parliament should be handed over to the military" with directives to the senator to be on topic.
Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of MQM said that the government was sleeping for complete 2 years as not a single judicial reform was introduced which, according to him, is like "The government kept sleeping when Pakistan was burning."
"I would urge both, the military and government to crush the terrorists with full might as beasts [terrorists] are killing our children," he added. General Abdul Qayum (rtd) said that there is no harm in setting up military courts for speedy trial of hardcore terrorists, as it happens in developed countries like US in circumstances through which Pakistan is passing through.
Senator Farhatullah Babar of PPPP questioned the 18th constitutional amendment that empowers head of a political party to take action against a member if he votes against party decision, saying the clause which diminishes the conscience of an MP should also be reviewed. "The Parliament has already endorsed a parallel judicial system [military courts], but I want to ask how to do away with this clause that makes head of a political party all-in-all and one can not even vote with his conscience," he questioned. The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, March 28.
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