ISLAMABAD: Amid protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) lawmakers, the government on Thursday laid the controversial Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 and National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 before National Assembly, seeking deliberation on them in house committees.

About a week ago, the acting president Yousuf Raza Gilani signed the two ordinances on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which were promulgated following the approval by the federal cabinet.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan of SIC, who is also chairman of PTI, strongly protested laying the bills in the house, saying it is a violation of the apex court’s verdicts and the ordinances cannot be laid before the house within weeks after their promulgation.

He called upon the government to move a summary and recall the ordinances through another ordinance, as it is a violation of the apex court’s verdict.

However, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar who laid the ordinances in the house rejected the proposal, saying the ordinances have now been tabled in the house and referred to the committees concerned for further deliberations.

“Now these [ordinances] are the property of the house, and it’s up to the house whether it makes further amendments in the bills or rejects them altogether,” he added.

The minister insisted that the ordinance is laid before the houses – National Assembly or Senate – soon after the start of the proceedings of either house.

As per Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in National Assembly, 2007, he added, an ordinance laid before the National Assembly is deemed to be a bill introduced in the National Assembly on the day it is so laid.

Tarar said that both legislative proposals have been referred to committees and opposition lawmakers can give their input there and the house has the authority to make amendments in it.

The NAB ordinance, signed by the acting president about a week ago, extends the remand period of an accused from 14 to 40 days. However, the sentence duration for the officer convicted of framing cases based on ill will has been reduced from five to two years.

Meanwhile, under the Elections Act (Amendment) Ordinance 2024, election tribunals will have retired judges as their members, besides serving judges.

This changes the law after amendments made by the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and caretaker set-up barred NAB from taking up cases involving an amount less than Rs500 million. Similarly, the period of remand was reduced from 90 days to 14 days.

Speaking on a point of order, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman called for early resolution of the demands put forth by sit-in protesters at Chaman and Ghulam Khan, a town in North Waziristan.

He said that the government’s new visa policy for traders involved in informal cross-border trade is flawed as it never worked in the past, adding the people living in border areas should not be treated like this.

The opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub seconded JUI-F chief, saying Ghulam Khan is the third most important border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan, after Chaman and Torkham.

He continued that the protesters at these three brooders have been protesting against the new trade policy introduced by the caretaker government without keeping the issues of the people, which is in no way justified.

“We demand free trade on the border as it was going on before the visa regime of the government,” he declared.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024