A meeting of combined opposition parliamentary parties would be held on Monday to discuss "The Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2016" and other bills which would be presented in a joint sitting of Parliament for passage. A joint session of the Parliament has been summoned on Monday (tomorrow) to table the bills for passage. The National Assembly on Friday referred the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2016 to the joint sitting for consideration and passage. The Senate has already rejected the Bill.
All opposition parliamentary parties - Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and others - of both the Houses of the Parliament will meet at 4: 00 pm to discuss the bills specially Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2016 before starting a joint sitting at 5:00 pm. Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah would chair the meeting. According to sources, the government will also hold a meting at 2:00 pm with the combined opposition parties of both the Houses of the Parliament to brief them on "The Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2016".
The government has adopted this procedure under the 18th Constitutional Amendment for holding a joint sitting of the Parliament. This move is being seen as the government's strong commitment to the bill after it was rejected by the Senate on March 4, 2016.
Five important bills passed by the Senate have lapsed due to failure of the government to get them approved by the National Assembly within 90 days. The Senate passed these bills with some amendments in the previous year but they could not be passed by the National Assembly within the stipulated period (90-day).
The bill is expected to be adopted as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) enjoys a simple majority in the joint session. The five bills of the Senate that have lapsed are (i) Anti-Rape Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2015 (ii) The Anti- Honour Killing Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2015, (iii) The Privatisation Commission (Second Amendment) Bill 2015 (iv) The Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape (Prevention and Punishment) Bill 2015 and (v) the Gas Theft Control and Recovery Bill 2014.
The Senate Secretariat has already notified that the five bills have lapsed. The first four bills were moved by Senators Sughra Imam and Farhatullah Babar of the PPP as private members' bills and all were adopted by the Senate after their passage through the standing committees concerned. Interestingly, the bill about gas theft and recovery was the government's own bill.
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