ISLAMABAD, Apr 8 (APP): The National Assembly on Thursday adopted 80 clauses of the over hundred-clause ‘Constitutional (Eighteenth Amendment) Bill 2010’ with two third majority and by also rejecting amendments in the bill by certain members.
The clauses adopted contained important ones like repeal of LFO and the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act 2003, renaming of NWFP as ‘Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa,’ Freedom of Association, Right to Information, Right to Education, Intra-Party elections, women seats, substitution of Article 58, increasing Senate seats to 104, increasing the days of Senate session from 90 to 110 days, qualification and disqualification of membership of Parliament, introduction and passing of bill, Omission of Article 71, number of Cabinet members, Speakers Provincial Assemblies to act as Governors in their absence, dissolution of provincial assembly, Local Government, Substitution of Article 143, Substitution of Federal Legislative List, Constitution of Council of Common Interest, Constitution of National Economic Council, shares of provinces in National Finance Commission, Amendment of Article 157, payment of royalty to provinces, province to raise domestic or international loans, appointment of Auditor General, constitution of Islamabad High Court, appointment of Judges, abolishment of Concurrent Legislative List and appointment of Chief Election Commissioner.
Except on the issue of renaming the NWFP, where PML-Q opposed the clause, and in some other cases where individual members moved amendments, all remaining clauses were adopted unanimously with two third majority.
The members moved amendments in clauses III, VI, VIII and clause XVI that were rejected by the House with majority vote. These clauses were then adopted by the House with votes not less than two/third of the total membership of National assembly.
The amendments regarding renaming of NWFP, intra-party polls, allocation of 30% seats in the House for women and allocation of 10% seats for women by each political party, were moved by Engr Amir Muqam, Shah Jehan Yousaf, Marvi Memon, Farzana Mushtaq and Kashmala Tariq.
They pleaded that at a time when the House is going to make a history, there should be consensus on the bill and nobody should feel deprived as they referred to strikes and protests in Hazara division.
They opposed renaming of NWFP saying that it would diminish the identity of Hazara people.
They mentioned sacrifices of Hazara people for Pakistan and claimed that the two big political parties compromised in the renaming of NWFP for their gains and hurt the feelings of hundreds of thousands of Hazara residents.
They strongly contested this issue and went to the extent of demanding a new province for their people.
Kashmala Tariq in separate amendments proposed to incorporate the provision of intra-party elections and reserve 30% seats of the House for women as well as making compulsory for political parties to allocate 10% quota for women.
Advisor to the Prime Minister Senator Raza Rabbani opposed the amendments on grounds that renaming of NWFP was not a compromise but the will of a Provincial Assembly that had adopted resolutions on this issue.
He also rejected the opinion of holding a referendum on this issue , saying that it had been a tool of the dictators to prolong their tenures.
He also rejected the amendments by Kashmala Tariq regarding intra-party polls, women seats in the House as well as allocations at the party level stating that in section 11 of Political Parties Act there was a provision for intra-party elections.
He said,” if the House feels there should be an amendment in the Political Parties Act, the government will have no reservation”.
Rabbani rejected the amendments in clause VIII as misfit by pleading that the member was proposing an amendment in the article pertaining to fundamental rights that could not be validated.
For clause XVI, he pleaded that the amendment moved was not suited for article 51 as this article deals with the seats of the Parliament and reserved seats.
“We are willing to incorporate this law in Political Parties Act if the House deems it fit,” he added.
After following the procedure and deliberations on the amendments by the concerned members, Speaker National Assembly put the motions to the House wherein the amendments were rejected and the motions to amend certain articles of the Constitution were adopted with two/third majority.
Associated Press of Pakistan
