Daily Times

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Wednesday submitted a resolution to the lower house of the Parliament demanding termination of the membership of four members of PTI from the National Assembly over absence. Apparently, undisruptive by small opposition but inactive visibly with less attendance session under chairmanship of the Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the lower house of parliament also debated the issue of price hike and charging of additional amount of fuel price adjustment in electricity bills by the power distribution companies or government. In the submitted resolution, PPP’s leader Shahida Rahmani requested the speaker to terminate the membership of said members of the former ruling party as they remained continuously absent. “Four PTI members have been absent for 40 days without notifying the House about the reason,” reads the resolution.

The members included Saleh Muhammad Khan, Ghulam Muhammad Lali, Mian Muhammad Soomro and Ghulam Bibi Bharwana In response, the speaker said that these members had resigned from the House and had not applied for leave, and the resolution will be processed according to law and Constitution while currently, he recalled, the matter was delayed.

All of the lawmakers had resigned on April 11 when former premier Imran Khan was being ousted through a no-confidence motion by the then united opposition and the incumbent ruling alliance. He recalled that he had accepted resignations by 11 PTI members in the house under article 64 (1) of the constitution. He stated that the resignations were accepted after fulfilling the requirements under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

Article 64 (a) of the Constitution states that a member of (Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Chairman resign his seat, and thereupon his seat shall become vacant. Earlier, in two calling attention notices Ghous Bux Khan Mehar and others drew the attention of the house towards charging an additional amount of fuel price adjustment in electricity bills and overall continuous increase in price hike in the country.

In response, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Ishaq Khan informed the house that 15 percent raise has been given to the employees in the budget whilst low income groups are also being provided assistance through Benazir Income Support Program, adding that the PTI government destroyed the economy in its four year tenure but we are committed to again put it on the path of development. Alluding to the devastation caused by floods in the country, the parliamentary secretary said the government had announced compensation for the affected families. He claimed that the present government has reduced the circular debt which was doubled by the PTI government in its four year tenure.

In another move, following the recent verdict of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over former ruling party’s prohibited funding case, it was demanded in the lower house of the parliament on Wednesday to refer the matter to the judiciary for further action. Taking the house, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that the judiciary should assess the evidence mentioned in the decision of the ECP regarding foreign funding of the PTI, adding that the judiciary should decide the matter on merit to uphold the law and constitution as well as to end the culture of abusive language and unconstitutional acts.

The house also passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 which was moved by Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan. The bill is aimed at excluding private transactions from the scope of National Accountability. Under the amendments, the pecuniary jurisdiction of the NAB has been fixed to take only action against mega scandals.

Further, it has been proposed that supplementary references can only be filed with the permission of the court to expedite the proceedings of the court within one year. As per the bill, the investigation officers shall not harass any person at the time of investigation or inquiry and they will confine their question relevant to the investigation or inquiry or for extracting evidence.

Under the bill, the accused must be informed whether he has been summoned in the capacity of accused or witness and information be given to him to enable him to give his evidence. Section 25 is related to protect the interest of the government that in case persons entering into plea bargain fail to make payment, pursuant to the payment approved by the court, the plea bargain agreement will become infructuous.