Senate panel hits consensus on 100-strong house

The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice took up several constitutional amendment bills in its meeting on Friday and held in-depth discussion on a letter from the Senate chairman regarding the composition of the upper house of parliament.

The meeting, with Senator Javed Abbasi in the chair, passed five bills, including a bill to remove the law provision for sedition from the Pakistan Penal Code. The members postponed the discussion on a bill for the creation of South Punjab province.

There appeared to be a consensus on bringing the strength of the Senate to 100. The committee would meet the Senate chairman on Monday, and if no objection was raised, a constitutional amendment bill would be tabled in the house next week.

The committee was informed that the federal government had started work on maintaining the number of Senate seats to 100 through constitutional amendments aimed at ensuring transparency in the Senate elections.

Senator Javed Abbasi discussed in detail the letter addressed to the committee by the Senate chairman on distribution of the eight seats of the former Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), following their merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The chair said that there was an opinion that the seats should be abolished altogether, while the other opinion favoured maintaining the strength of house at the current level of 104. “In my opinion, it would be better to increase the seats to 100 by distributing one seat to each province.”

The committee adjourned the matter until Monday to reach a consensus on 100 Senate seats, and a meeting with the chairman. In case of consensus, the constitutional amendment bill would be introduced on Tuesday.

In addition, the meeting considered another constitutional amendment bill regarding the establishment of South Punjab Province. Senator Behramand Tangi said a South Punjab province would eliminate the ssense of deprivation among the people of the region. He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) must fulfil its promise in this regard and all parties would support it.

Committee member Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said that the government position was unclear in this matter. Senator Zeeshan Khanzada said that there was nothing in the response provided by the government. The committee deferred the bill for next meeting.

The meeting also considered the constitutional bill to amend Article 73. Senator Manzoor Kakar, the mover of the bill, said that at least 20% of the amendments proposed by the Senate should be incorporated in the finance bill. The bill was rejected by a majority vote.

The meeting also considered the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2020. Khokhar and Jamali supported the bill, however, Khanzada opposed it. As a result, the committee passed the bill by a majority vote.

The committee unanimously passed the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill 2020 (Amendment of Article 11), General Provisions (Amendment) Bill 2021, Public Grievances (Grievance Redressal) Bill 2021 and Guardians and Wards (Amendment) Bill 2020.