Daily Times

The proceedings of the National Assembly were Tuesday disrupted by the opposition parties over voting on a bill moved by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) legislator Aliya Kamran.

The bill seeks an increase in the number of judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) from six to 10, and a quota accommodating all the provinces on the IHC benches.

Parliamentary Secretary for Law Maleeka Bokhari opposed the Islamabad High Court Act 2010 [The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill 2019], but Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri held a verbal vote and subsequently rejected the bill after it appeared to have been voted against by the majority.

Initially, the bill was rejected by routine manner like ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. But mover of the bill was of the view that voting should be made over it. When counting was done, 94 members were found in favour while 96 against the bill. The deputy speaker announced rejection of the bill but the entire opposition wanted a recount. The deputy speaker said recount was not allowed under the rules.

In the meantime, the entire opposition lawmakers came in front of the speaker’s dais and a mayhem-like situation developed in the House. Realizing gravity of the situation, the deputy speaker announced a break for 10 minutes, which was later on extended for more than an hour. During the break time, the government and opposition lawmakers rushed to the speaker’s chamber and discussed the issue.

After negotiations between PTI and the opposition members, the session resumed and the deputy speaker forwarded the draft to a committee and adjourned the session till Wednesday at 11am.

According to initial assessment, the bill could not be passed as it was not supported by four members of the PML-N including Maryam Aurangzeb and Nisar Cheema. Later, PPP senior leader Khurshid Shah expressed annoyance over the PML-N members for not supporting the bill.

Published in Daily Times, January 16^th 2019.