ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman grilled the federal government for silently disappearing key bills in the Parliament.
“Instead of using the Parliamentary committees for scrutinizing and reviewing bills, countless progressive bills have now just disappeared from Parliamentary agendas under the PTI government. After much deliberation and work by our members, they quietly vanish and simply do not see the light of the day. First we had missing persons and now we have missing bills,” she said.
“It is shocking how my bill, ‘Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2020’, has been silently omitted from the agenda. ‘The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act 2019’ has been cleared by the Senate committee but is not appearing for voting in the Senate while the ‘Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2019’ also disappeared from the NA despite being passed in the Senate”, the Senator added.
“When questions are asked in both the Houses of the Parliament, no one informs us of any progress. Why are the bills being omitted even after the smooth passage in one House of the Parliament?” questioned the Senator.
Highlighting the importance of the human rights bills, the Senator said, “Instead of prioritising these bills, they have been silently omitted from the Committee rooms. The relevant minister must supervise the smooth passage of the bills, not put them on the back burner”.
“As law makers, it is our Constitutional responsibility to push for the smooth and transparent passage of bills in the Parliament. Drafting such key legislation is an onerous task. We’ve been working on these bills with civil society for years”, the Senator said.
“The way bills have been tabled in the Parliament is unprecedented. The government must inform the Parliament regarding the current status of the disappearing bills. This is not how the Parliamentary system works”, concluded Vice President PPPP Senator Sherry Rehman.