Walkout: FATA senators protest vote-curtailing decree

Presidential order had stripped tribal MPs of right to cast four votes.

ISLAMABAD:

The presidential order to introduce new rules of the game hours ahead of Thursday’s Senate elections for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is going to haunt the government for long, as the opposition in the upper house joined hands and staged a walkout on Monday to protest against the move.

“We have serious reservations over the ordinance ... which speaks volumes about pre-poll rigging,” said Senator Hidayatullah from Fata while inviting the opposition to join him in the walkout.

He said Fata members were an acknowledged group in the National Assembly and were invited to every all-party conference but, he claimed, they were treated otherwise during the Senate polls. “Fata is also a part of this country; why do we get such treatment?”

President Mamnoon Hussain had issued the order on Wednesday night under which MNAs from FATA could cast one vote, unlike the previous method that allowed tribal MPs to cast four votes.

The move, according to the government, was aimed at tackling the horse-trading issue. However, it was challenged in court and elections for FATA were postponed.



Later on, Haji Muhammad Adeel of the Awami National Party censured the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government for “manipulating the Senate elections in the provincial assembly”.

He claimed that members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamaat-e-Islami had stuffed the ballot box with coloured papers instead of ballot papers, but no action had been taken against them.

The house witnessed another walkout from the proceedings when Khalida Parveen of the Pakistan Peoples Party pointed out the Punjab government’s “use of force against farmers during a protest rally”.

The farmers were staging a rally against the government for not fulfilling its promise of granting a subsidy of Rs5,000 for rice growers.

Amendments proposed

Hafiz Hamdullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl introduced a bill seeking amendment in Article 37(h) of the Constitution – “prevent the consumption of alcoholic liquor otherwise than for medicinal and, in the case of non-Muslims, religious purposes” – to end the two exemptions for consuming alcoholic liquor. The amendment bill proposed that “in the case of non-Muslims, religious purposes” be omitted.

Hamdullah claimed all the minorities were agreed that no faith allows consumption of alcoholic liquor for religious purposes.

He said the minorities were braving defamation, agony, insult and discrimination because of the existing provision in the Constitution.

Hamdullah also proposed amendments in Article 248 of the Constitution (Protection to President, Governor, Minister, etc) saying “the rule of law means that no one is above the law”.

The amendment bill states “it is very unfortunate that every leader in Pakistan has misused the law. It is about time that this unjust law be removed to bring everyone as equal before the law, whether it’s a leader or a common person”.

The issue of presidential immunity under Article 248 had hit the headlines when former president Asif Ali Zardari was in office and facing corruption charges. The house referred both the bills to the relevant standing committees for further deliberation.

Bills passed

Earlier, the house unanimously passed Senator Syeda Sughra Hussain Imam’s Privatisation Commission (Amendment) Bill 2015, which proposes post-audit of privatisation transactions completed within the preceding financial year.

The house also passed Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi’s The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2015 and a resolution moved by Nuzhat Sadiq of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in connection with the International Women’s Day observed across the world a day earlier.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2015.