Nawaz bars PML-N MPs from going abroad

Move is said to ensure adoption of the Finance Bill

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister is learnt to have barred PML-N lawmakers from going abroad, ensuring the adoption of the Finance Bill.

Sources cited strict orders, requiring lawmakers to seek prior permission from the party’s top leadership in case there was any ‘grave urgency’ for foreign travel, the sources said.

Ensuring the maximum presence of the ruling party lawmakers in the National Assembly during the current budget session is seen as an attempt to counter tough opposition in the lower house.

Knowledgeable leaders in PML-N said that the directives had been issued during a meeting of the party’s parliamentary party under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday just before the announcement of the federal budget on the same day.



Incidentally, the meeting was held before the meeting of the federal cabinet that approved the federal budget on May 26.

PML-N insiders said the party leadership was expecting hostile opposition during the budget session coming from mainstream political parties, including PTI, PPP and JI, and devised a strategy accordingly.

Lawmakers of the opposition gave a tough time to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar during his budget speech in the NA, creating uproar.

Constitutionally, the Finance Bill requires simple majority for NA’s approval and subsequent, yet ceremonial, approval from the President before it comes into effect on July 1 every year.



The Senate virtually has no role in the passage of the Finance Bill even though it makes recommendations for amendments in the bill but these proposals are not binding on the lower house: it may or may not accept the proposed suggestions.

“The problem is not the numbers. We have enough strength in parliament to get a bill passed with simple majority. The problem is the attitude of our lawmakers towards budget and their lack of interest in legislative business during Ramazan,” said a PML-N MNA wishing to be kept unnamed.

MNAs mostly prefered to visit Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah during Ramzan or stay detached from the budget session even if they were in Pakistan, he said.

“This has become a trend. In parliament, we seldom see full quorum in Ramazan. Even federal ministers are nowhere to be seen. Things get worse during the budget session because most lawmakers are unaware of technicalities relating to financial issues and prefer to stay away.”



Last year, the ruling PML-N had a hard time getting the Finance Bill passed from the NA after the opposition repeatedly pointed out the lack of quorum during the budget session which led to repeated adjournments of NA sessions.

Deputy Speaker NA Murtaza Abbasi, who is also General Secretary of PML-N’s Khyber Pakhtunkha chapter, also wanted to perform Umrah but Sharif directed him to stay during the budget session, insiders said.

Abbasi will now go for Umrah after the budget session, it is learnt.

PML-N’s Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said the party discipline did not allow legislators to be away from any given session of parliament without a valid reason. “Not just budget, there is no justification to miss any session of the NA, Senate or provincial assemblies without a solid reason. We take legislative business very seriously and party leadership does not tolerate any slackness in this regard,” he told The Express Tribune, without verifying the PM’s instructions regarding ensuring full presence during the budget session.