Amendment bills: Govt sidesteps JUI-F, Jamaat concerns
PPP, MQM urge not to adhere to religious parties’ view
PPP, MQM urge not to adhere to religious parties’ view. PHOTO: APP
ISLAMABAD:
To avoid further rift on the issue of military courts, the government on Tuesday ignored religious parties’ concerns and rushed the amendment bills for voting.
Sources told The Express Tribune that an alliance of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) forced the government to not accommodate religious parties’ point of view in the draft bill.
Talking to The Express Tribune, senior leaders of both the PPP and MQM said they had told the prime minister clearly they would withdraw their support in case any amendment was introduced in the draft bills against the spirit of all parties’ conference.
Lawmakers from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Sheikh Rasheed abstained from voting.
Before commencement of the proceedings, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited all parliamentarians to a breakfast meeting at the speaker’s chamber to persuade them to vote in favour of the constitutional amendment.
He reiterated that the current extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures and requested all parliamentarians to inform their voters about the measures taken to eliminate the scourge of terrorism. However, the PM’s efforts could not bring dissenting voices back to parliament.
A senior leader of the PPP told The Express Tribune that “a line has been drawn between two forces and religious parties are distanced from the national alliance, which is a welcoming coincidence.” The JUI-F and the JI abstained from voting for or against the bill.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman later told the media that his party avoided committing a sin by abstaining from voting.
“We were told today that two government representatives led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would speak to us. However, when they were negotiating with us in the chamber and we were almost near to a consensus on the contents of the draft bills, we watched on TV that the bill was already being passed,” he said.
“I don’t know which force pushed the government not to wait even for an hour,” he said, adding that his party will announce future line of action after consultation with all religious parties.
To a question, he said the decision to quit federal cabinet will also be made later.
He said the government sent a negative message of division among leadership against terrorism. “We want to eliminate terrorism without any discrimination. We also sought a role for Supreme Court in the process which was declined,” he added.
The two parties – JUI-F and JI – had objected to the use of words ‘religion’ and ‘sect’ in the bills, maintaining that such words discriminated against religious groups and madrassas.
The PTI representatives also did not attend the National Assembly session in protest against the government’s ‘non-seriousness’ towards the party’s demand to establish a judicial commission to launch an independent investigation into the May 2013 elections.
Earlier before passage of the bills, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said his party was supporting the establishment of the military courts to root out terrorism from the country. “We are supporting the law with a heavy heart and with a belief that the step will help restore peace in Pakistan,” he said.
Shah said he has opposed military courts his entire life and propagated the benefits of independent judiciary. “It was a difficult decision for us but we are standing with the government in these testing times,” he said, adding that the Pakistan army must also stick to the law passed by parliament.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2014.
To avoid further rift on the issue of military courts, the government on Tuesday ignored religious parties’ concerns and rushed the amendment bills for voting.
Sources told The Express Tribune that an alliance of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) forced the government to not accommodate religious parties’ point of view in the draft bill.
Talking to The Express Tribune, senior leaders of both the PPP and MQM said they had told the prime minister clearly they would withdraw their support in case any amendment was introduced in the draft bills against the spirit of all parties’ conference.
Lawmakers from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Sheikh Rasheed abstained from voting.
Before commencement of the proceedings, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited all parliamentarians to a breakfast meeting at the speaker’s chamber to persuade them to vote in favour of the constitutional amendment.
He reiterated that the current extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures and requested all parliamentarians to inform their voters about the measures taken to eliminate the scourge of terrorism. However, the PM’s efforts could not bring dissenting voices back to parliament.
A senior leader of the PPP told The Express Tribune that “a line has been drawn between two forces and religious parties are distanced from the national alliance, which is a welcoming coincidence.” The JUI-F and the JI abstained from voting for or against the bill.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman later told the media that his party avoided committing a sin by abstaining from voting.
“We were told today that two government representatives led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would speak to us. However, when they were negotiating with us in the chamber and we were almost near to a consensus on the contents of the draft bills, we watched on TV that the bill was already being passed,” he said.
“I don’t know which force pushed the government not to wait even for an hour,” he said, adding that his party will announce future line of action after consultation with all religious parties.
To a question, he said the decision to quit federal cabinet will also be made later.
He said the government sent a negative message of division among leadership against terrorism. “We want to eliminate terrorism without any discrimination. We also sought a role for Supreme Court in the process which was declined,” he added.
The two parties – JUI-F and JI – had objected to the use of words ‘religion’ and ‘sect’ in the bills, maintaining that such words discriminated against religious groups and madrassas.
The PTI representatives also did not attend the National Assembly session in protest against the government’s ‘non-seriousness’ towards the party’s demand to establish a judicial commission to launch an independent investigation into the May 2013 elections.
Earlier before passage of the bills, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said his party was supporting the establishment of the military courts to root out terrorism from the country. “We are supporting the law with a heavy heart and with a belief that the step will help restore peace in Pakistan,” he said.
Shah said he has opposed military courts his entire life and propagated the benefits of independent judiciary. “It was a difficult decision for us but we are standing with the government in these testing times,” he said, adding that the Pakistan army must also stick to the law passed by parliament.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2014.