Govt decides to call joint session of parliament on August 6

Seven bills including Mutual Legal Assistance to be presented for approval

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government on Thursday decided to call the joint session of the parliament after Eidul Azha on August 6 where seven bills including the Mutual Legal Assistance Bill will be presented for approval.

 Before the joint parliament session, an important meeting between the government and opposition will be held on August 5 in which the former will request the latter for cooperation.

 The federal government faces the challenge of getting off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list and needs to send the implementation report to the body by August 6.

 The government needed to complete legislation according to the requirements of the FATF by amending three important bills to come off the grey list.

 The government, on Thursday, completed legislation on two bills, while the Mutual Legal Assistance Bill will be presented before the joint session of the parliament on August 6 for approval.

 The seven bills, approved by the National Assembly and refused by the Senate, have already been sent for the joint parliamentary session.

 The bills sent for approval include increasing the number of judges in Islamabad High Court, rights of disabled in the federal capital, Survey and Maps Bill, Federal Public Service Commission Bill, Pakistan Medical Commission and Pakistan Medical Tribunals Bills.

 Meanwhile, the inside story of normalising relations between the government and opposition on FATF-related bills also came to the fore.

 Until Wednesday evening, a deadlock between the government and opposition persisted on the FATF legislation.

 On Wednesday night, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) tried to convince the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) for the purpose but in vain.

 Later, both the opposition parties met a government delegation and agreed on the legislation in the National Assembly and Senate.

 After a consensus was reached between the government and opposition, a session of the National Assembly was called late night.

 The bills were then sent to the lower house where they were passed with the amendments made by the Senate.

 The Senate on Thursday approved with amendments United Nations (Security Council) Bill 2020 and the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2020 related to action plan of the FATF.

 Federal Minister for Economic Affairs said that Thursday was the day of victory for the parliament and added he expected that Pakistan would get relief from the FATF in September.

 Federal Minister for Law Dr Farogh Naseem congratulated the nation on the passage of the bills and stated that it would help meeting the FATF’s deadline.

 Both bills were passed with a majority vote as JUI-F voiced its opposition, claiming that the point of view of its lawmakers was not heard.