Parliament passes 10 bills with no opposition present

The joint session of parliament on Tuesday, presided over by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, passed 10 bills in half an hour because of the absence of the opposition.

The government did not face resistance in passing any of the bills.

Three lawmakers protested against the non-issuance of production order for Ali Wazir, their incarcerated colleague from erstwhile Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), and staged a sit-in in front of the speaker’s podium.

They included National Democratic Movement chief Mohsin Dawar and Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, both belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami.

They shouted slogans demanding the production order for Wazir as well as an end to the new wave of terrorism sweeping Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In fact, Senator Mushtaq was also holding posters. However, the NA speaker ignored them and carried on with the proceedings.

Chitrali led the prayers for soul of the deputy speaker’s deceased grandmother as well as the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in the country.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi told the House that Pakistan was a country with a strong economy in 2018.

He added that the entire nation looked up to parliament back then.
Addressing the speaker, the minister said one political party wanted elections, referring to the PTI.

“When they [PTI] was in power, everything was fine. However, when it was ousted through a democratic manner, it resorted to calling parliament a ‘pile of garbage’,” he added.

The minister demanded that the NA speaker and Senate chairman should take action against the PTI lawmakers.

National Party’s Tahir Bizenjo regretted that the important Reko Diq project was not part of the House’s agenda.

He noted that the project could have paved the way for the development and prosperity of Balochistan and the rest of the country.

Bizenjo condemned the manner in which the Reko Diq project had been “handed over” to the Centre.

The legislation passed by the House included “The Global Change Impact Studies Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Pakistan Nursing Council (Amendment) Bill, 2022 relating to registration and training of nurses, midwives and lady health visitors, The State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Bill, 2022, The Pakistan Global Institute Bill, 2022, The Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Interest on Private Loans Bill, 2022, The Islamabad Compulsory Vaccination and Protection of Health Workers Bill, 2022, The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Bill, 2022 and The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Bill, 2022.

The speaker then adjourned the joint sitting for an indefinite period.

(With input from agencies)