ISLAMABAD: The Upper House of the Parliament Wednesday passed FATF-specific The Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2020, but rejected another all important FATF-specific The Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020.

This came as a major blow to the treasury benches with Senate having rejected three all important FATF-specific bills in just over three weeks.

All these three bills were passed in the Parliament's joint session later on Wednesday.

During Senate session presided over by Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, the House passed The Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2020, a government bill that comes in line with Pakistan's commitments to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regarding effective measures against terror financing. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan presented the bill. The bill provides for the scrutiny/audit of the accounts of the cooperative societies. The bill empowers Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other prosecution agencies to implement "strict control on the affairs of cooperative societies."

However, the Senate rejected The Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020, presented by Sajjad Hussain Turi, the Chief Whip of the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Senate.

The opposition parties strongly opposed the bill, when it was presented, saying they had strong reservations over certain clauses in the bill. Chairman Senate then ordered voting on the bill with 34 votes having gone against the bill compared to 31 in its favour leading to rejection of the bill.

The 'genuine' purpose behind the introduction of this bill, according to federal government, is to enable the law enforcement authorities with the insertion of Section 19 C in the bill, to take "certain encountering techniques with an authoritative support of the courts of law to curb with these menaces."

The section 19 C (1) reads, "The investigating officer, may with the permission of Court, within sixty days of such permission, use techniques including undercover operation, intercepting communications, accessing computer system and controlled delivery for investigation of financing of terrorism under the law in force. The aforementioned period of sixty days may be extended up to further period of sixty days by the Court on a request made to it in writing. The Court may grant extension, if it is satisfied, on the basis of situation/reasons given in the written request."

On August 25, 2020, the federal government faced a major setback after its two FATF-related bills; The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, and The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020, were rejected by the Senate after the opposition refused to support both the bills citing the "hostile attitude of Leader of the House in Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem."

The two bills were passed by the National Assembly a day earlier on August 24.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said in the Senate that government believes in strengthening the structure of religious seminaries for the "promotion of Islam."

Replying to a question during Question Hour in the Senate session, the federal government has complete liaison with the administration of the seminaries across Pakistan.

Being a signatory of United Nations Charter, Pakistan has frozen properties of UN designated proscribed organizations and "as a responsible member of the world body, Pakistan has to follow UN instructions after thorough examining."

He said some international non-governmental organizations have also been closed in the country for not fulfilling the requirements.

Answering another question, the minister said reviewed master plan of Islamabad will likely be finalized next year.

He said high-rise buildings are being encouraged to protect green areas in the country, which, he said is evident from the fact that the federal cabinet has recently barred construction of prison on greenbelt in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Replying to a question, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shibli Faraz, said the government is focusing on promoting regional languages, culture and traditions through Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television (PTV).

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan "always calls for formulating programmes, based on indigenous culture of Pakistan and religious traditions, which can be viewed with the entire family."

Faraz stressed the need to repulse cultural onslaught of India and other countries by highlighting cultural asset of Pakistan.

The House will now meet again on Friday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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