ISLAMABAD: A day after the National Assembly passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Senate too, Tuesday, passed this legislative draft — a move that implies the postponement of LG polls in the federal capital scheduled this October 9.
Following its passage from the parliament, the bill now requires ceremonial assent from President Asif Ali Zardari before becoming a law.
On the maiden day of the Senate session, Law Minister Azam Tarar presented the bill on behalf of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.
The bill mainly seeks to increase the number of general members, from six to nine, in each of Islamabad’s 125 union councils.
Taking the floor, Tarar said that the bill aimed to strengthen the LG system in Islamabad.
Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz opposed the bill. “This bill is ill-intentioned,” he said, referring to the upcoming LG polls in Islamabad.
“They did a similar thing previously too—when people were lined up for voting in Islamabad LG elections before the polls were postponed,” Faraz said.
He demanded that the bill be referred to the relevant standing committee for a thorough review.
Faraz urged Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani to assert his authority by ensuring Senate’s independence in the matters concerning government-related legislation.
The chairman Senate responded that the Senate’s business advisory panel decided that the bill would be presented in the house.
“I am the custodian of the house. I am not the custodian of the government—I need to get the sense of the house,” Gilani said, before allowing the motion to present the bill that was subsequently passed by the house.
Legally, once the bill takes effect, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would be required to launch the delimitation exercise for LG elections afresh, keeping in view the increased number of general members or wards in the UCs.
The ECP had launched the delimitation exercise for ICT LG elections this June 1 that was completed on July 23. The poll body announced holding the Islamabad LG elections this September 29 before revising this date to October 9. The ICT local bodies’ term expired on February 14, 2021.
Apart from that, the Senate unanimously passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2024. The law minister said that the existing law had a “typo” which needed to be corrected through this bill.
In addition, the house withdrew the Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Deposit Protection Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2024, on the related motions moved by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. Both the bills were moved in the Senate this January by the then caretaker government. Following the withdrawal of the two bills, the finance minister moved these bills afresh.
Meanwhile, the senators condemned the resurrection of terrorism in Balochistan. Leader of the House in Senate Ishaq Dar termed it a “blunder” to dialogue with the militants in the past. “The resurrection of terrorism is the result of our own mistakes –it was a blunder to dialogue with terrorists,” he said.
Dar said the senators, regardless of their political affiliations, needed to come together to chalk out a way forward to deal with terrorism.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman said National Action Plan (NAP) was formulated in the past to deal with terrorism. She stressed on the implementation of NAP against terrorism.
Senators from different political parties also shared their views on the situation in Balochistan. The house was adjourned till Friday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024