People like to live with some illusions when they do not succeed in achieving their political or social goals, despite their long struggle. Such illusions are rampant among Seraiki nationalists, who are nowadays debating the possibility of a new province by perusing the 24th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2013, which was passed by the Senate on March6, 2013. The bill was sent to the National Assembly for approval, but it was too late as the National Assembly completed its tenure on March16, 2013 and the lower house never took up the Bill.
Before discussing the issue further, it needs to be mentioned that the government passed the 24th Amendment Act 2017, which addressed the allocation of seats in the National Assembly. It stipulated that seats would be allocated to each province according to the latest census result. The 24th Constitutional Amendment Bill of 2013 for the new province Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab has been replaced with the 24th Amendment Act 2017 of delimitation. But some intellectuals of Saraiki Wasaib believe that the 2013 bill is alive and may be reconsidered by National Assembly.
All political powers have ruthlessly ignored the Saraiki province movement since its inception, and have not allowed it any space in media or national politics.It was Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 2010, which considered this issue and constituted a committee within the party, chaired by Taj Haider. The committee submitted a report in favour of a Saraiki province in a meeting held by PPP’s Central Executive Committee in 2012.This report was passed by CEC unanimously. After this, PPP took this issue to National Assembly by through a resolution on May3, 2012, which was also passed unanimously.As a result, Punjab Assembly passed two separate resolutions of two provinces (South Punjab and Bahawalpur) unanimously on May 9, 2012.
Then speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza constituted a parliamentary commission on August 16, 2012, which was chaired by Senator Farhatullah Babur. The Pakistan Muslim League — Noon (PML-N) put allegations on the commission and decided to not only boycott but also pass a new resolution from the Punjab Assembly against the new province on August 29, 2012. But the NA speaker directed the commission to continue its work on January 28, 2013. Farhatullah Babur’s commission (after many deliberations) presented its report with the 24th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2013 in the Senate, which was passed with two-thirds votes of the upper house on March 6, 2013.The constitutional amendment bill was then sent to lower house the same day.But this was not enough, as without the consideration of NA, the Bill would not be able to acquire constitutional status.
A Saraiki Province cannot happen. The 2013 Bill was never passed by the NA, even after the Senate passed it. On the other hand, the 2017 Act has been passed by both houses of Parliament with two-third votes of each house, effectively replacing the 2013 Bill.
Let us see the legal/constitutional position of the bill now.According to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan(Chapter of Amendment of Constitution), Article 238 says:
“Subject to this part, the Constitution may be amended by the Act of [Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)]. The next Chapter of (Constitution, Amendment Bill), the Article 239 of Constitution said, (1) a Bill to amend the Constitution may originate in either House and, when the Bill has been passed by the votes of not less than two-thirds the total membership of the House, it shall be transmitted to the other House. (2) If the Bill is passed without amendment by the votes of not less than two-thirds the total membership of the House to which it is transmitted under clause (1), it shall, subject to the provisions of clause (4), be presented to the President for assent. (3) If the Bill is passed with amendment by the votes of not less than two-thirds the total membership of the House to which it is transmitted under clause (1), it shall be reconsidered by the House in which it had originated, and if the Bill as amended by the former House is passed by the latter by the votes not less than two-thirds of the total membership it shall, subject to the provisions of clause (4), be presented to the President for assent. (4) A Bill to amend the Constitution which would have the effect of altering the limits of a Province shall not be presented to the President for assent unless the Provincial Assembly of that Province has passed it by the votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership. (5) No amendment of the Constitution shall be called in question in any court on any ground whatsoever. (6) For the removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that there is no limitation whatever on the power of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) to amend any of the provisions of the Constitutions.”
It has been cleared that any constitutional amendment bill may not get constitutional status without being passed from both houses of parliament with two-thirds votes of a total number of each house.According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, Chapter (Bills Passed by Senate and Amended, Rejected or not Passed by Assembly), the rule No.126, (subrule 1) says:
“If a Bill passed by the Senate and transmitted to the Assembly is rejected or is not passed within ninety days of its laying in the Assembly, or is passed with amendment by the Assembly, the Secretary shall immediately communicate the fact to the members and also cause copies of the Bill to be supplied to them.”
The 2013 Bill was never passed by the NA, even after the Senate passed it. On the other hand, the 2017 Act has been passed by both houses of Parliament with two-third votes of each house, effectively replacing the 2013 Bill.
Now the question is how the new NA will consider the amendment after the 2018 General Elections when there is no rule in either house to protect it.
In this situation, any effort to start a new debate over the 2013 Bill in the public and parliamentary domain is nothing more than a pipe dream.
The writer is a journalist associated with various Urdu newspapers for over 18 years
Published in Daily Times, June 26th 2018.