Four bills rushed through joint sitting

ISLAMABAD:

The joint sitting of parliament on Friday passed four bills within a span of eight minutes and wrapped up its session in 18 minutes.

The government introduced the bills amid intense sloganeering by the opposition. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N president Nawaz Sharif, Aseefa Bhutto and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were conspicuous by their absence.

The bills included the Trade Organizations (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with majority votes, the bill further to amend the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1950 [The Imports and Exports (Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2023], the bill to provide for the establishment of the National Institute of Technology [The National Institute of Technology Bill, 2024] and the bill to provide for the establishment of National Excellence Institute [The National Excellence Institute Bill, 2024]. The bills in the house were tabled by Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, MNA Zehra Wadood Fatmi and Senator Manzoor Ahmed.

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that unfortunately no body from the opposition opposed the bills.

The speaker adjourned the joint sitting of parliament till February 12, 2025.

Another set of four bills, including the National Commission for Human Development (Amendment) Bill, 2023], the NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan (Amendment) Bill, 2023], the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology, Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2023] and the National Skills University Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2023] were deferred on the request of Minister for Federal Education Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.