Parliamentary panel gives nod to increase in NA, PA seats of tribal districts

PPP, PML-N members of standing committee on law and justice vote against move

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Tuesday recommended with a majority that the amendment bill proposing the increase of tribal districts’ seats in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from 16 to 20 and from six to nine in the National Assembly may be passed by the parliament.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML N) members voted against the bill.

The committee met under the chairmanship of MNA Riaz Fatyana. MNAs Atta Ullah, Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik, Kishwar Zehra, Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Muhammad Sana Ullah Khan Masti Khel, Malik Muhammad Ehsan Ullah Tiwana, Sher Ali Arbab, Shunila Ruth, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Syed Hussain Tariq, Nafeesa Shah, Naveed Qama, . Aliya Kamran. Sajid Khan and Mohsin Dawar attended the meeting.

Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem and officials of his ministry, the election commission secretary and representatives of the National Database and Registration Authority and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were also present.

The committee chairman recalled that the election commission was directed to not issue its schedule for elections in the tribal districts.

The secretary maintained that the commission released the election schedule in light of the committee’s recommendations.

“Currently elections are scheduled for 16 seats,” he said. “We will proceed as per the constitution. The election commission was ready to hold elections for as many seats as have been agreed,” he added.

“The election schedule will be changed if new delimitation takes place through a constitutional amendment and the commission reserves the right to change the election dates.”

Presenting his argument in favor of increasing the seats, federal minister Noorul Haq Qadri said the move would help reduce the sense of deprivation among the residents of the tribal districts.

PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique expressed his surprise over the urgency of the ruling party’s lawmakers in having the bill passed. He said the PML-N did not oppose the increase in provincial seats for tribal districts but it would oppose the amendment as the election schedule had been released.

PPP’s Naveed Qamar maintained that a constitutional amendment after the release of the election schedule would become an extremely complex process.

PTI’s Malik Ehsan Ullah Tiwana maintained that the PPP and the PML-N were only opposing the bill because it was moved by the PTI.

MNA Mohsin Dawar said his party would be at a loss if the elections were delayed but it was ready to bear the consequences.

The law minister said that it was the right time to increase the seats for the tribal districts as their residents had already put up with great injustices in the past.

The committee deferred the bills proposing amendments to the inheritance certificate bill and Muslim family law until the next meeting.