Bilawal cautions against passing services chiefs’ tenure bills in haste

PPP chairman says govt must ensure that democratic norms remain intact in the process

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday cautioned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government against getting the bills pertaining to tenures of services chiefs passed through the Parliament in haste and violating democratic norms in the process.

He demanded of the government to amend all three bills as per the Supreme Court orders, as well as, share rules and regulation of the Army Act with the opposition benches.

“The government has shown a great urgency in amending the law … we fear the notification episode is not repeated again,” he said while addressing the media after attending the National Assembly’s session earlier in the day.

The government, Bilawal said, must follow parliamentary steps and keep democratic norms supreme while passing the bill. “Questions would be raised on the government if democratic procedure is not adopted in the approval of the bill,” he warned.

“We want the parliament to be united.”

NA Standing Committee on Defence approves services chiefs' tenure bills

The clause, which the apex court had asked the government to amend, is not being amended by government, said the PPP chairman.

He said that the PPP had presented three proposals for amending the law. “These recommendations were presented to the committee, but it appears as if the government is playing games [with PPP],” he remarked. Bilawal said his party would seek cooperation from other opposition parties, for which all the political parties would be contacted.

The PPP chairman said the party desired that loopholes were removed from the bill and a better law was formed, so that it could not be challenged later.

Commenting on rising Middle East tensions, Bilawal said the situation was deeply concerning, adding that a war on another border would prove to be very dangerous for the country.

He said the whole region would be affected if there was a war in the Middle East.

“Pakistan needs to play a key role in [defusing tensions between Iran and the US] … the prime minister and the foreign minister must act now and play their part in ensuring the security of this country and the nation.”