Progress on polarising bills in the offing

Azma Bokhari says govt very serious about women’s protection

LAHORE:

With the Provincial Assembly passing over thirty bills introduced in 2015, progress on the much-debated bills on women protection and regulation of private educational institutions seems to be making headway.

Treasury lawmakers and provincial ministers have expressed hope that the bills would be tabled for passage in the next session of the assembly slated for January. The PA managed to pass 34 of the 52 bills introduced during the 2015. Bills including the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board, the Punjab Sound Systems Regulation, the Punjab Information of Temporary Residents and amendments to the Punjab Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation), the Punjab Arms, and the Punjab Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls were passed over eight sessions organised last year. The Child Marriage Restraint Act was amended to enforce harsher penalties to put an end to child marriages. Much credit was also claimed by the Punjab government for managing to amend family laws conceived to protect women from exploitation and facilitate speedy resolution of family disputes.

Despite this, the Punjab Protection of Women Bill has been languishing since June, 2015. The provision requiring suspects to wear bracelets with global positioning system (GPS) trackers was met with severe criticism by some lawmakers. Amendments to the said provision were also made when it was later reviewed. Rejecting criticism of no progress on the bill’s passage, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Standing Committee Chairperson Azma Bokhari said it was on “top of a list” of legislations that would be taken up by the house. “The government is extremely serious about women protection,” she said.

With the PA having remained in session for 58 out of the 88 days counted, treasury lawmakers said legislation had taken a backseat due to the formidable level of political activity witnessed over the year. “Yet, legislative performance in the Punjab has been markedly better in comparison to other provinces,” Bokhari asserted.

Standing Committee on Education Chairperson Qamarul Islam also expressed hope regarding the passage of the cabinet-approved bill on regulation of private education institutions soon. The subject stirred a hornet’s nest with parents launching an anti-fee hike campaign.  The government was compelled to promulgate an ordinance prohibiting institutions from doing so over the same academic year.

Criticism from lawmakers on oversight and accountability has paved the way for a revision of the PA’s rules of procedure. The proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab 1997 include empowering standing committees with suo motu powers. A report on the proposed amendments, vetted by the law minister, is expected to be presented during the following session.

Mehmoodur Rasheed, the leader of the opposition, among others, has also brought attention to standing committees’ efficacy, with them being circumscribed only to laws referred to them. “The manner in which an assembly ought to conduct legislative deliberations, including standing committees’ operations and other business is not what transpires in the PA,” he said.

The Free and Fair Election Network, which monitors the house’s proceedings, has observed that delays in calling a session and inquiring into minsters’ absence could be curbed by augmenting the powers of the chair. Echoing similar concerns, the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Qazi Ahmad Saeed also expressed hope that strict action should taken against pertinent ministers absent from sessions. The chair had earlier censured ministers for absence on the agenda for question hour over various sessions.

Rasheed also assailed Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for only showing up twice at the house over 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2016.