13 Private Members bills introduced, 3 passed despite ruckus in NA

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday witnessed introduction of 13 private members’ bills amid protest of the opposition and referred them to the relevant committees.

After the start of proceedings, the opposition members gathered in front of the dais of the chair and insisted to give them floor to speak on the points of order. However, Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri asked to run the House as per rules and take the agenda first.

The opposition lawmakers blew whistles during the protest but the proceedings continued and a total of 13 private members’ bills were introduced and three were passed.

These bills were; the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (section-5 and Schedule); the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the National Database and Registration Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Rent Restriction (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the National, Vocational and Technical Training Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2020: the Biometric Electoral Voting Bill, 2020; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Insertion of Article26A); the Legal Aid and Justice Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Prevention of Offences in Sports Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Model Police Bill, 2020 and the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

All these bills were referred to the relevant committees for further deliberations A total of 27 other private members’ bills were deferred as most of these bills were of the opposition lawmakers.

Majority of the lawmakers were protesting when the chair asked to move the bills following which these legislative proposals were deferred.

However, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmoodi Qureshi requested the chair to drop the bills as they were not moved despite presence of the relevant lawmakers in the House.

A total of four reports of various standing committees were also presented in the House.

The quorum was pointed out twice during the proceedings.

A PPP lawmaker Abdul Qadir Patel pointed out the quorum but it was found complete upon counting.

Another PML-N lawmaker Javed Hasnain pointed out the quorum for second time and it was found incomplete following which the chair adjourned the house to meet again on October 23, at 10.30 a.m.