Pakistan People's Party (PPP) on Friday demanded that the proposed Riwaj Act and the regulation to set up Local Bodies in FATA under the recently announced reforms package should placed before the Parliament for discussion prior to singing by the President.
Speaking on a point of public importance in Senate, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that keeping the Riwaj Act and Local Bodies law secret from the public and the Parliament raised serious questions about the law replacing the notorious FCR [Frontier Crimes Regulations] in tribal areas as promised in the FATA Reforms. "It will be a disastrous step backward if it turns out that the Riwaj Act was even more regressive and anti human rights than the notorious FCR", he said, adding the President must not sign these regulations merely on the advice of bureaucracy alone without it being discussed in the Parliament.
He said that the Parliament should be taken on board as to how the local bodies governments will be set up in tribal areas, the powers and responsibilities of these bodies and the mode of election and whether these will be held in all agencies simultaneously or in a staggered manner and how. He also demanded to know how the government proposed to extend the jurisdiction of superior courts to FATA as promised in the Reforms Package and the time line for it. "The silence of the government on these issues is deafening and gives rise to doubts that the reforms package is more of publicity stunt rather than serious effort to mainstream the tribal areas", he added.
The House also passed "The Pakistan Climate Change Bill, 2017", moved by Minister for Law Zahid Hamid. The bill provides to meet Pakistan's obligations under international conventions relating to climate change and address the effects of climate change. After the bill was passed unanimously, Minister for Law stated that Parliament should be proud of it as Pakistan has become the fifth country in the world to have passed such a bill.
In its state of objects and reasons, the bill stated that implementation of the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement involves a large number of comprehensive and extensive adaptation and mitigation actions across all sectors of the economy. This is an enormous task which is of a multi-disciplinary, inter-provincial and inter-ministerial nature, requiring that it be dealt with at the national level. There is also an urgent need to prepare, on priority basis, a portfolio of projects for seeking funding from the potentially huge amounts of global climate change finance likely to be available.
For the aforesaid purposes amongst others, it is considered necessary to establish an independent Pakistan Climate Change Authority which will, under the guidance of a high-powered Pakistan Climate Change Council (chaired by the Prime Minister and with representation from all Provinces, including the Chief Ministers), provide a framework for mitigating and adapting to the effects of the changing climate on various sectors of the economy and developing response strategies to the effects of climate change. The proposed authority will also identify and supervise the transfer of appropriate technology, including renewable technology, and strengthen capacity building measures.
The Bill also establishes a Pakistan Climate Change Fund, managed by a Board. Money from the Fund will be utilised to meet expenses of both the Authority and the Fund itself and for financial assistance to suitable adaptation and mitigation projects and measures designed inter-alia to combat the adverse effects of climate change. The Bill has been developed with the support and participation of various governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in the climate change arena. It is also in accordance with international best practices and standards. By passing this Bill, Pakistan will join only a handful of countries who have demonstrated their commitment to combating the adverse effects of climate change by enacting legislation specifically for the purpose.
Meanwhile, responding to a call attention notice, Zahid Hamid who is also incharge of the Ministry of Climate Change, stated that the government has taken a number of steps to reduce air pollution in the federal capital.
He said that two industries were recently sealed in industrial area of the federal capital for not abiding by the guideline set by the ministry. The mover of the call attention notice, Senator Sherry Rehman said that pollution has been in the rise in I-9 and I-10 sectors and a group of industrialists have made the lives of the residents of Islamabad miserable. She said that tyre materials, plastic and coals are being used by these industries.