The National Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill for the establishment of the Kalam Bibi International Women Institute University of Bannu which would provide quality education to women of the area. The bill – The Kalam Bibi International Women Institute University of Bannu Bill, 2023 – was tabled in the House by Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Ms Zeb Jaffar after the presentation of a report on it. The bill was unanimously adopted.
Ms Zeb Jaffar thanked Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain for his special interest in the legislation, aimed at providing opportunities to women to get quality education. According to the needs of Bannu District and the tribal traditions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it was necessary to establish a women institute. The bill would pave the way to upgrade the Women Campus University of Bannu to the full-fledged Kalam Bibi International Women Institute.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan introduced the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The bill aimed to remove legal complications that have arisen for the transfer of cases from the accountability courts to other courts, tribunals and forums which do not fall within the domain or jurisdiction of the NAB (National Accountability Bureau)Ordinance. Such complications were witnessed owing to recent amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (XVIIII of 1999), called NAB Ordinance, through the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act, 2022 (XVI of 2022) and the current bill proposed to remove complications after necessary amendments.
On the initiative of the Prosecutor General Accountability and after having input from relevant stakeholders, the bill stated that certain further amendments in NAB Ordinance were required to be made urgently to provide legal cover to the accountability courts for the transfer of cases.