National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control Thursday unanimously passed a resolution against the much-hyped lockdown of Islamabad by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on November 2. The meeting which met with MNA Rana Shamim Ahmad Khan in the chair passed a resolution seeking, stoppage of any public rallies in capital, saying it might disturb people routine life and smooth functioning of government.
The committee members strongly condemned and unanimously passed a resolution against the PTI lockdown plan. They were of the opinion that such kind of rallies would create hurdles in working of schools, hospitals and government and private offices. Arif Ahmed Khan, Secretary Ministry of Interior, informed the committee that government would take all legal measures to stop all illegal actions in that regard. The secretary claimed that several meetings were held and were already in progress in the ministry to deal with protestors.
The committee asked the Interior Secretary to apprise the committee over the government arrangements regarding dealing with the protestors. But the secretary told that it was inappropriate to make the arrangements public in advance on which the committee members agreed. However, the secretary assured the committee all government departments would be opened and every one would be able to come to offices without any hindrance.
They were of the view that Islamabad High Court had already passed an order to stop such kind of rallies. The committee also offered Fateha for the martyrs of Quetta incident. The Secretary, Ministry of Interior, excused on the absence of Ministry in the meeting of the standing committee dated 21-07-2016, and said it was miscommunication. The committee decided to withdraw the privilege motion against the Ministry of Interior.
The committee considered and appreciated the efforts of the member for bringing the "The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014" (Insertion of new section 297-A Amendment of second schedule Act V of 1898) (moved by Aliya Kamran, MNA). She told the committee that disrespect of dead body was a serious issue and its punishment was only one year.
She wanted to increase punishment for at least seven years with a fine of Rs 0.1 million. She said that nowadays people started cannibalism to which no punishment had been provided in the Pakistan Penal Code, so to address the issue, Section 297-A in PPC was required to be introduced besides amending the second schedule of CRPC. However, it was decided that Ministry of Law and Justice would furnish its comments on the bill. The committee considered the i) "The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014" (Amendment of section 379, Act XLV of 1860 and Amendment of Schedule II, Act V of 1898) (Moved by Kishwar Zehra, MNA). ii) "The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014" (Insertion of new section 389A, Act XLV 1860 and Amendment of Schedule II, Act V of 1898) (Moved by Kishwar Zehra, MNA). iii) "The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014" (Substitution of section 489F, Act XLV of 1860 and Amendment of Schedule II, Act V of 1898 (Moved by Kishwar Zehra, MNA) and directed the Ministry of Interior for obtaining the views/comments from all provinces.
The committee decided to form a sub-committee which would deal with all such bills and then report to the whole committee. Therefore, committee unanimously decided to constitute a sub-committee under the convener-ship of Syed Javed Ali Shah, MNA with the following ToRs: -
"The Committee will consider the all private members bills and will submit its recommendations to the main committee within 30 days". The said committee will comprise Syed Javed Ali Shah, MNA as convener while Salman Khan Baloch, MNA, Naeema Kishwer Khan, MNA and Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, MNA as members of the committee.