ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani on Wednesday ruled that the proceedings of the Upper House of the Parliament with regard to The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, and The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020-the two all important FATF-related bills- which were rejected by the Senate a day earlier, were "strictly in accordance with the requirements of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012."

"It was the constitutional prerogative of the House either to pass or reject the Bills. The Bills were rejected by the voice vote at all stages including second and third readings of the Bills (motion for consideration, clause by clause consideration, and motion for passage of the Bill). Therefore, both Bills were rejected after due exercise of constitutional rights by the Members present," the chairman ruled shortly before announcing the proroguing of 302nd Senate session, in an attempt to clear the confusion that surfaced in Senate session earlier on Tuesday when opposition senators particularly former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani from Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had said that the provisions of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, were not duly adhered to in proceedings regarding the two all important government bills.

In terms of rule 119 read with rule 120 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, there shall be an intervening period of two working day between the receipt of notice by the Member or Minister-in-Charge to move that the Bill be taken into consideration and the day on which the motion for consideration is set down in the Orders of the Day, the ruling said. However, Rule 120 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, provides discretionary power to the Chairman to direct otherwise and accordingly, if so directed, a motion for consideration of Bill can be placed on the Order of the Day and moved without the gap of two working days, it added.

Both Bills were passed by the National Assembly on 24th August, 2020 and the Notices by Minister-in-Charge for consideration under rule 119 of the Senate Rules were received in the Senate Secretariat on the same day, the chairman Senate said in the ruling. " I was conscious of the requirements and the powers vested in the Chairman under Rule 120 of the Senate Rules, however, wanted to build larger consensus on the important legislative business, hence, decided to devolve these discretionary powers to the House. Accordingly, prior to motions for consideration of Bills, a motion under rule 263 of the Senate Rules to dispense with the requirements of rule 120 of the Senate Rules was placed on the Orders of the Day. Unfortunately, the spirit of devolution of my discretionary power to the House was misunderstood and an untoward situation between the Treasury and Opposition Benches was created," it said.

"It is an admitted fact that mere placement of motion under rule 263 on the Orders of the Day does not affect the requirements of rule 120 vis-à-vis discretionary powers of the Chairman. Accordingly, being custodian of the House, in order to maintain the decorum of the House and to give fair opportunity for consideration of legislative business, contentedly linked with national interest, I withdrew my decision of devolution of discretionary powers and allowed consideration of Bills.

Neither the placement of motion under rule 263 on the Orders of the Day for dispensation of requirements of rule 120 was improper nor was the use of discretion in the larger national interest barred by Rules and rejection of Bills was under the spirit of Constitution and Rules," the ruling said.

The Upper House of the Parliament saw high drama earlier on Tuesday when the House rejected The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, and The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020, after the opposition refused to support both the bills citing the "hostile attitude of Leader of the House in Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem."

The treasury benches kept pressing to pass forthwith both the bills, which, they said was essential in line with Pakistan's commitments to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) but the opposition refused to entertain this request after repeatedly trading barbs with the leader of the House in Senate. The opposition demanded apology from Shahzad Waseem for allegedly accusing opposition leaders of money laundering after the passage of an anti-money laundering bill few days ago, an accusation that Waseem vehemently denied and refused to apologize. Amidst hostility, the two FATF-related bills were presented by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan but were rejected by the House by majority voice vote.

This did not go down well with Prime Minister Imran Khan. "Today in Senate the opposition defeated two critical FATF-related bills: Anti Money Laundering and ICT Waqf bills. From day one I have maintained that the self-serving interests of the opposition leaders & the country's interests are divergent. As accountability noose has tightened, the opposition leaders have become desperate to save their corrupt money by trying to prevent parliament from functioning; by seeking to undermine govt's effective Covid 19 strategy - a recognised global success story - & now by trying to sabotage Pak efforts to exit FATF grey list. Opposition tries to hide behind facade of democracy to protect their loot & plunder. To blackmail for NRO by defanging NAB, they would even have Pak put on FATF black list to destroy nation's economy & increase poverty. They keep threatening to bring down govt unless given NRO. Let me make clear: No matter what happens, my govt will not allow any NRO as it would be betrayal of nation's trust in holding plunderers of public wealth accountable. Musharraf gave NROs to the two political leaders which quadrupled our debt & destroyed economy. There will be no more NROs," he wrote in a series of tweets

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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