Daily Times

The joint sitting of the Parliament on Tuesday passed 10 legislative bills including two controversial bills, Pakistan Medicals and Dental Council (PMDC) Bill, 2022 and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Bill,2022, that had been passed by both houses of the parliament but returned back by the President.

The joint session which was chaired by National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also accomplished 22 scheduled agenda items out of total 23. Only one the Protection of Parents Bill, 2022 was deferred by the house when Minister for Law Shahdat Awan requested the speaker to put the bill defer as it needs more debate for comprehensive legislation.

Other passing bills by the house included as 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 PIMS bill and PMDC bill, which were long standing issues, finally got an official nod of the apex legislative forum. During previous tenure of PTI, President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated two ordinances in this regard which generated a controversy among all concerned quarters. As soon as the incumbent government came into power, the both ordinances have been reverted by the NA and Senate respectively. As per rules of business, it was mandatory to get approval of the President after this process. However, the President did not sign the bills which became part of the Joint sitting’s agenda after passage of the constitution timeframe that was 90 days.

Later in his address to the house, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif informed the lawmakers that security forces, in a successful operation, got all the hostages released, detained in Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) compound in Bannu by terrorists.

He said the Special Service Group of Pakistan Army started operation at 12:30 pm on Tuesday and got the compound cleared by 2:30 pm, adding that all the terrorists were killed in the operation. The Defence Minister further said that two security officials embraced martyrdom in the operation, while around 15 SSG personnel, including an officer, got injured. According to the information, militants seized a CTD police station in Bannu district on Sunday and took hostages to negotiate with government authorities, officials said.

Special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif had also claimed no one had attacked the police station, rather, some suspects in custody under suspicion of terrorism tried to snatch weapons from security personnel deployed on site.

The situation is under complete control. Security forces have cordoned off the area,” he said, adding that an operation was underway and would be completed in a while.

The Defence Minister, on the other hand, also alleged that the entire provincial administration is hostile to one person (Imran Khan) who is just doing his dirty politics. “He has no care for the precious lives of our soldiers who are fighting for the country and being martyred,” he regretted.