Govt buckles as DHA bill is ‘being redrafted’

Two bills passed in spite of consecutive walkouts.

ISLAMABAD:

One walkout followed another at the National Assembly session on Thursday, as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement along with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lashed out against the government. Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan continued to berate the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) over the controversial Defence Housing Authority (DHA) bill. 

Nisar revealed that a bill to give DHA legal cover was finally being redrafted in consultation with those the housing scheme “belongs to” after being deferred twice during the last session.  However, he did not explicitly name the military, which the DHA scheme belongs to. Following this speech, Nisar led a walkout of PML-N members from the house.

The DHA bill is aimed at providing legal cover for building new houses for the scheme located between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Nisar alleges that the bill will allow for outsourcing development to a famous real estate tycoon from Rawalpindi. He has also earlier charged that the DHA aims to ‘grab’ large tracts of land belonging to the Punjab government through the bill.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik hit back at Nisar in his absence and advised him “not to behave like a teacher and dictate his terms to the house”.

“There should be a code of conduct for the opposition leader,” Malik said.

Two bills passed

In spite of the walkouts, however, the house managed to pass two bills, including one that seeks to add to punishments for disrupting supply pipelines in order to steal gas.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2011 proposes that any person who tampers with petroleum pipelines for the purpose of theft or disrupting the supply of petroleum, or aids in such tampering, will be punished with a maximum of 14 years imprisonment, a minimum of seven years and a Rs10 million fine.

The National Assembly also passed The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill 2011 to increase pecuniary (monetary) jurisdiction of the original site of the Islamabad High Court from Rs10 million to Rs100 million.

Another motion regarding the extension of the Industrial Relation Ordinance (IRO) 2002 for another 120 days was approved by the house, despite opposition by PML-N members who contended that it was a violation of the constitution as the subject had been devolved to the provinces under the 18th amendment.

The government had promulgated IRO 2011 in July this year in view of the legal vacuum created after the deletion of the concurrent Legislative List through the 18th constitutional amendment.

Secret memo controversy

The opposition’s criticism did not end at the DHA bill or the IRO. Pressure continued to pile up on the government when PML-N sought an explanatory statement on reports that President Asif Ali Zardari secretly sought help from former US joint chief of staff Mike Mullen to rein in the powerful Pakistan Army.

“Such deals with foreign powers by a head of state are outrageous,” PML-N’s Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan said, moments after the house opened proceedings.

“It is deeply damaging to the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan…it simply cannot be swept under the carpet,” added Dastgir, who is also the deputy information secretary of the party.

Though no counter-argument was provided by the government, PPP leader and former information secretary Fauzia Wahab made an attempt to counter it by questioning the credibility of Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani American who claimed to have delivered a memo from the president to Mullen earlier this year.

“Who is Mansoor Ijaz? We don’t know him. He doesn’t represent Pakistan or its foreign policy,” said Wahab.

She then accused “some elements” of trying to create political uncertainty in Pakistan but did not directly blame any individual, group or institution.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2011.