Hasty changes opposed by both sides of the aisle speaker gives legislators another day to go through proposed draft. Law minister says caretakers being empowered to ensure continuity of policies. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif who initially grilled PTIs Ali Zafar for talking about the supremacy of parliament also agreed that the bill be deferred for a day.
The deferred bills included the Elections Amendment Bill the Oil and Gas Authority Amendment Bill from Exit Control Exit Control. The bill was widely circulated in the house and debates were also conducted. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that empowering the caretaker government was meant to ensure the continuity of measures in line with the IMF accord.
He said that the interim government was also being given powers to take decisions in urgent matters including transfers. He claimed that amendments were finalised after consultations with all parties and that a joint report was prepared after detailed deliberation and consensus on legislation.
However Senator Irfan Siddiqui called for maximum consensus on the legislation and appreciated the ruling speaker Pervez Ashraf for deferring the bill for one day to give lawmakers time to deliberate on proposed amendments in the proposed draft bill.
He added that a special committee led by Ayaz Sadiq held a series of meetings on the bill and added that all suggestions and suggestions of members were incorporated in the bill. The government wanted the long list of electoral reforms to be passed through an amendment in the same bill and even parliamentarians were unaware of the changes introduced.
Senator Rabbani strongly objected addition of the words urgent matters in Clause a saying it has very vague and vast meanings which reflected that the government wanted to give unbridled powers to caretaker. Senator Murtaza said his party colleague Shahida Akhtar Ali said the issue was not discussed at the meeting and added Constitution did not allow the interimgovernment to take major decisions.
