Following the visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a day ago, the Senate on Wednesday made record legislation and unanimously passed five bills including two important anti-terrorism bills. The Anti-Terrorism Bill, 2014 and Anti-Terrorism (second amendment) Bill, 2014 were referred to the committee after it was rejected by upper house of parliament, pointing out lacunas in the bill besides terming them as black law.
But the same bill was presented in Senate after the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics control, headed by JUI-F Senator Talha Memmood, approved it without incorporating any amendments to it. The opposition leader in Senate Chaudhary Aitzaz Ahsan said that they agreed not to oppose the bill after the government accepted to incorporate their proposals at later stage as the opposition political parties had serious reservations over some clauses of the bill.
"I just want to put it explicitly on record that we allow the passage of the bill after the government assured us that the proposals we'd made in the bill will be incorporated," he maintained. Zahid Hamid, Minister for Information Technology, who presented the bill in Senate on the behalf of Interior Minister Chaudahry Nisar Ali Khan, accepted that the government would certainly incorporate the proposals made by the opposition.
The Senate unanimously passed, 'The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2014'. The bill provides to amend the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973. The bill was moved by Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Pervaiz Rashid.
The Senate unanimously passed, 'The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2014'. The bill provides to amend the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Ordinance, 1979. The bill was moved by Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights. The Senate also passed the fifth bill, 'The Services Tribunals (Amendment) Bill, 2014'. It provides to amend the Services Tribunal Act, 1973. The bill was moved by Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid.
Speaking on the passing of the bills, Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq said that it is a great day in the history of Senate as five bills were passed with the co-operation of the opposition. He thanked and congratulated all the members of the house on the passing of the bills.
This is pertinent to mention that the Senate failed to pass even a single bill during the last parliamentary year due to lack of majority of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the Upper House of Parliament. However, things changed altogether after a meeting between Prime Minsiter Nawaz Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari last month after his party members, resisted the passage of an anti-terrorism bill hence paving the way for the government to pass five bills within 30 minutes and that too unanimously. The house was adjourned to meet again on Friday at 10:30am.