Cabinet committee to oversee law & order

Opposition ends boycott of three assembly panels

LAHORE:

Most of the provincial cabinet’s powers for dealing with law and order issues are likely to be exercised by a committee headed by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Basharat Raja.

A summary sent to the chief minister by Additional Chief Secretary Home Momin Agha has proposed the terms of reference (ToRs) for the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order. The committee will monitor and review the law and order situation in the province. It will also look into security alerts issued in the province and take steps accordingly.

The committee will have the power to set up a joint investigation team (JIT) under the Anti-Terrorism Act. It will take steps for administrative and security arrangements regarding important events in the province and take all stakeholders into confidence. It will also have the power to summon the army and Rangers in the province.

The summary states that the committee will approve the bills for the home department's media campaigns, deployment of troops and Rangers, compensation for those killed and injured in bombings through block allocation. It will also review the reports of the Special Branch and Counterterrorism Department and take emergency measures in this regard.

Meanwhile, the opposition has agreed to end the boycott of three important committees of the Punjab Assembly -- the Public Accounts Committee II, Privileges Committee and Finance Committee. Senior opposition member Samiullah Khan attended a meeting of the Privileges Committee held on September 14. PML-N’s senior lawmaker Malik Nadeem Kamran had said that the Public Accounts, Privileges and Finance Committees were not standing committees and the opposition was considering ending their boycott.

Sindh govt sets aside Rs113b for law and order

Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Law Minister Basharat Raja have agreed, on the proposal of the opposition, to give powers to the standing committees like those enjoyed by the National Assembly panels. A joint government-opposition committee has also been formed in this regard.

Once the standing committees are empowered, the opposition may consider ending their boycott.

The meeting of the Privileges Committee was presided over by its Chairman Ali Akhtar. PPP MPA Ali Haider Gilani was barred from attending party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's rally in Muzaffargarh and a case was registered against him. Regional Police Officer (RPO) Dera Ghazi Khan Rana Faisal and former DPO Muzaffargarh Sadiq Ali were summoned over a privilege motion. The speaker also gave a ruling on the matter that the DPO should apologise to Gilani and the case should be withdrawn. In the committee meeting, the RPO sought one-month time to resolve the issue. On the other hand, a committee headed by Speaker Pervaiz Elahi has started work on the pattern of the National Assembly for increasing the production of agricultural commodities and protection of farmers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2020.