K-P Assembly session: Strong opposition forces labour bill to be reviewed

Opposition threatens walkout if govt undermines legislation process.

PESHAWAR: At the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly session on Tuesday, the Payment of Wages Act 2012 received strong criticism, after which the government sent it to the law reforms committee.

Chaired by Speaker Kiramatullah Chagarmati, the session saw the second consecutive day of tough resistance from the opposition benches over the payment of wages bill. Acting on the opposition’s response, the government sent the bill to the law reforms committee for further review.

Opposition members had threatened a walkout if the government tried to undermine the legislation process in any way.

Earlier, when K-P Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Arshad Abdullah tabled the bill, lawmaker Israrullah Gandapur termed it dichotomous and said it should be sent to the law reforms committee.

He was backed by Iqbal Din Fana, the chairman of the standing committee on labour.

Abdullah said that members of the assembly can only voice concerns in the form of amendments. He criticised opposition lawmakers saying that they were obstructing labour rights. However, Gandapur asserted that the assembly was not a proper forum to discuss this issue, so there was no question of moving an amendment to the law.

His contentions were supported by Mufti Kifayatullah, Abdul Sattar Khan and Malik Qasim who said that the labour minister had disregard for the house and committee. They said the minister concerned did not appear in the house for the issue that was raised a day earlier.

Awami National Party’s (ANP) Saqibullah Chamkani proposed that the bill be sent to the law committee for further discussion, to which Senior Minister Bashir Bilour agreed. However, he said it should again be presented in the house next Monday.  Chairman of Panel Abdul Akbar Khan referred the bill to the law reforms committee for discussion.

The assembly session was adjourned till Friday afternoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2012.