The Senate Defence Committee on Monday laid its report in Senate, endorsing the National Command Authority Act, 2016, envisaging 'master-servant relationship' for the employees of organisations under NCA and ousting the jurisdiction of courts including Supreme Court from entertaining petitions of the employees.
The report laid by the Committee's Chairman Mushahid Hussain Sayed also contains a dissent note by Senator Farhatullah Babar listing several reasons for rejecting it and also proposing a middle way which, however, found no resonance with other members of the Committee.
The Bill passed by the National Assembly in September last and subsequently laid in the Senate was also previously endorsed by the Defence Committee but was sent back by the Chairman Senate for reconsideration citing several reasons including conflict with fundamental rights.
The Defence Committee meeting again on December 8, however, stuck to its earlier decision and endorsed the Bill yet again. The Committee by majority vote argued that it was the prerogative of the Parliament to legislate on any matter at any time and that the servant-master relationship and ousting the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was in national security interest.
Dissenting and speaking in Senate, Senator Farhatullah Babar cited reasons of demoralising the employees which will undermine the strategic programme, the matter already before the Supreme Court in a review petition, the illegality of thrusting upon employees new rules without giving them an option and concentration of too much of power in the hands of executive without check by an independent judicial body.
Babar also proposed the establishment of an independent Special Service Tribunal on the pattern of Federal Services Tribunal of Pakistan to deal exclusively with the service maters of employees of NCA/SPD the decisions of which may be challenged before the Supreme Court. "The special tribunal may be set up under Section 11 of the NCA Act 2010 which provides for an Appellate Authority," he said. However, the proposal did not find favour with majority members of the Committee which has three former army generals as its members.
Rejecting the proliferation argument as self-serving, Farhatullah Babar said that there was no proliferation when various organisations, now under NCA, were working independently under their respective service rules. "Proliferation took place only after the formation of NCA, a fact duly acknowledged by General Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf in his book "In the Line of Fire," he said in his dissent note.
It is wrong to penalise the employees for the fault of NCA, the note said. "Over a hundred thousand employees working in different organisations under NCA include some highly qualified professionals who must not be degraded into "master-servant" relationship as stated objective of the Bill. Who is the master and who is the slave, and is a uniformed officer the master and a civilian his servant?" he questioned.
He said that the amendment will result in demotivating employees that will eventually undermine the strategic programme itself and implored the authorities not to be "so blinded by the quest of absolute power." About the illegality involved, he said that these employees were working in different organisations and were governed by their respective service rules before brought under the NCA.
Changing the rules now to the detriment of employees is contrary to the principle of law, he said. If rules have to be changed, the employees must be allowed choice to opt for the old or new service rules as was done recently in the case of PTCL employees. He asked why the NCA could not adopt such a model. He also questioned why the thousands of employees in the nuclear agriculture or medical centres are subjected to the new harsh rules as they had nothing to do with the classified programmes.
Debunking the reasoning that UN Resolution 1540 required tightening control over employees, he said that this resolution was for preventing pilferage and proliferation of strategic materials and not to strangulate the employees or deprive them of their rights.
Instead of exposing and punishing those actually involved in proliferation, the NCA now sought to lay the blame for its failures on the shoulders of employees. The argument that 'master-servant' relationship is to keep check on the employees is spurious and amounts to rubbing salt into the wounds.
Forcing the employees into a master-servant relationship, the NCA was making them a scapegoat for its own failures and warned that it may result in "a huge collateral damage to the strategic programme itself." The dissent note said that the issue is already before the Supreme Court in a review petition. Although the Parliament has the right to legislate at any time, it would be unwise to make this legislation in undue haste in a manner that appears to scuttle a judicial process under way, he said.
During proceedings, State Minister for Interior Muhammad Balighur Rehman informed the House that the Parade Ground near Faizabad intersection had been notified as Democracy Park last year for holding public meetings and demonstrations. PTI Senator Muhammad Azam Swati's bill to amend the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues was referred to the committee concerned for report.
The Senate Chairman adjourned the proceeding of the house after Senator Mian Muhammad Attique of MQM pointed out the quorum. The bells were rang for five minutes but there were only six senators on opposition benches while nine on treasury side, forcing the Chair to adjourn the proceedings till Tuesday at 02:30pm.