COAS General Bajwa. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The government on Friday tabled three bills in the National Assembly to provide legal cover to the appointment and extension in the tenures of the services chiefs – In pursuance of the Supreme Court’s November 28 ruling.
Interestingly, the speaker had sent the bills to the defence committees of the Senate and the National Assembly for further deliberations and these committees had approved the bills with consensus in a joint meeting, co-chaired by Captain (retd) Jameel Ahmad and Senator Waleed Iqbal
The NA was set to meet again on Saturday. However, the PPP – the third biggest political force in the country – raised objection to violation of parliamentary procedures and later the session was deferred till Wednesday as the bills will be re-sent to the committees separately.
Talking with reference to the development, the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter that the PML-N and PTI had agreed to unconditionally pass the Army Act on Friday in both houses, ignoring parliamentary procedure, without even circulating the bill to all members or sending the legislation for committee oversight.
“[However] I’m pleased all have now agreed that the bill will go back to NA committee, will also be reviewed by the Senate committee and follow the procedure of both houses.”
Bilawal further noted that all institutions that – according to him – derive powers from parliament have asked the political forces to pass legislation and accepted parliamentary supremacy.
“This is positive that parliament that has been dormant for over a year is ready to legislate. These are important victories for those who have always battled for parliamentary supremacy and democracy,” he added.
Later, the PML-N top leadership also communicated to its lawmakers that the voting on the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill had been deferred till Wednesday and that the party’s parliamentary party would discuss the bill on Tuesday.
According to sources, the PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and the party’s parliamentary leader Khawaja Asif delivered this message to the leading opposition party MPs through email and WhatsApp.
“The honourable members are informed that [voting on] the Army Act Amendment Bill has been postponed till Wednesday, and prior to the approval of the bill it will send to the Senate and the National Assembly committees on Defence for their approval,” the message said.
The PML-N leadership also told members that a joint meeting of the PML-N parliamentary committee has been convened on Tuesday at 10 am for consultation on the amendment bills. The lawmakers were directed to ensure presence in the house on Wednesday till the end of the session.
The PPP chief has also called an emergency meeting of the PPP Central Executive Committee today (Sunday) in Karachi to discuss the country’s political situation.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court – headed by then chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa – on November 28 declared that the tenure and other service terms of the post of chief of army staff should be determined through an act of parliament within six months.
Nearly a month after the ruling, the government filed a review petition in the apex court, raising 26 questions of law against the judgment, while pleading for “preservation of two leading institutions” for a “healthy democracy”.
However, in a change of approach, the PTI-led government decided to avert a possible clash with the superior judiciary by implementing the Supreme Court judgment and bring the legislation in parliament during the current session — the first of the new parliamentary year.
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