In a dramatic turn of events, the government postponed till Monday (today) the National Assembly and Senate sessions late Friday night, which was summoned on Saturday to pass the amendment to Pakistan Army Act giving a three-year extension to Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Subsequent to tabling the bill and approval by the relevant standing committees of the two houses on Friday, the government had called the session on Saturday to pass this legislation in record time.
However reservations on undue haste and thereby failing to follow stipulated procedure were first expressed by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. On Saturday he stressed that due procedure regarding amendment to Pakistan Army Act should be followed before passage of the bill.
The PML-N parliamentary party was, as per Khawaja Asif, PML-N parliamentary leader, informed of his senior party leadership's decision to extend unconditional support to the bill-a stance that brought much ridicule and denigration on the social media against the party.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari then tweeted "the PML-N and PTI had agreed to unconditionally pass the army act on Friday in both houses, ignoring parliamentary procedure, not even circulating the bill to all members or sending the legislation for committee oversight."
By late Friday night the news circulating on social media was that Maryam Nawaz, the party's vice president, had issued instructions that the parliamentary party would abstain from voting on the bill; though her own twitter account remained silent.
However senior PML-N sources told Business Recorder that Maryam Nawaz strongly opposed the party's policy on the army chief's extension and even 'threatened' to resign if due procedures were not followed with regard to passage of the bill. They said there were also some lawmakers within the party who argued that PML-N should abstain from voting on the bill.
"Differences of opinion in political parties are part of the democratic process. However, the leadership has the final word in all important matters," a PML-N lawmaker stated.
Reservations by the leadership of the two main opposition parties prompted the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to follow proper parliamentary procedure before the passage of the bill from the two houses, sources in the government told Business Recorder.
As per the new understanding with the opposition, sources added that the meeting of the defence committee, chaired by Amjad Ali Khan (PTI), has been reconvened on Monday ahead of the National Assembly session to review the draft of the bill.
This led to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to tweet "I'm pleased all have now agreed that the bill will go back to NA committee, will also be reviewed by Senate committee and follow procedure of both houses. This is a positive that parliament that has been dormant for over a year is ready to legislate.
All institutions that derive powers from parliament have asked us to pass legislation and accepted parliamentary supremacy. These are important victories for those who have always battled for parliamentary supremacy and democracy."
Talking to Business Recorder, PML-N vice president Senator Mushahidullah Khan said that on the instructions of party Quaid Nawaz Sharif, the party conveyed its concerns to the government over the hasty procedure being followed regarding the passage of the bill.
He said the government wanted to pass the bill within 24 to 48 hours without following due parliamentary procedures, "which was not acceptable to us."
He further said that the opposition has sought to fulfil all the requirements before legislating on the matter, adding that proper debate should be held within the committee as well as in both the houses of the parliament ahead of voting.
PML-N sources told Business Recorder, on the strict condition of anonymity, that there is strong resentment among the party ranks on extending support to the extension of army chief keeping in view Nawaz Sharif's "vote ko izzat do" narrative.
A PTI senator told Business Recorder that the treasury benches can get the bill passed by the NA without PML-N and PPP, but the security establishment wants political consensus on the matter.
"This is not a constitutional amendment bill that requires two-third majority. The amendment to Army Act needs a simple majority vote which we can achieve in both the houses but the government wants to take the opposition onboard," he said.
Even if the opposition abstains from voting in both the houses, the bill can be passed with a simple majority vote, a senior official of NA Secretariat told Business Recorder, adding that the only thing the treasury benches need is to meet the quorum -one fourth of the total membership of Senate or 26 senators whereas the total strength of government is 38 members.
However, if the opposition opposes the bill in the Senate, the bill would be defeated given that opposition has 65 members against 38 members of treasury benches in Senate, he added. He further added that even if the bill gets defeated in the Senate, the government has the option to go for convening a joint session of Parliament.
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