Speaking to the media after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tabled the bill in the National Assembly (NA), Bilawal said PPP would only support the legislation if the PTI government followed the rules and regulations of the parliament.
He further stated that if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supports the legislation unconditionally, then PPP would be unable to bring about any change.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan took to social media and expressed confidence in parliamentary leaders showing unity over matters concerning national security.
Addressing the media afterwards, the information minister said the new amendment will protect the interest of the country and would also strengthen the parliament.
She reaffirmed that the government would follow the rules of the parliament.
Minutes after the bill was passed, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said a positive discussion was held with the opposition and hoped that the bill would be passed unanimously tomorrow, adding that all parties are moving forward with the new bill.
The science minister also said he is hopeful that the selection of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and amendments in the NAB laws would be settled with consensus, adding that the government and opposition would discuss amendments in the NAB laws from Monday.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif has laid down a new strategy for the party to follow in the matter concerning amendments in The Pakistan Army Act 1952.
The strategy is a drastic change from the course PML-N took till Thursday.
In a letter addressed to Khawaja Asif, the three-time former premier said “it was not in the interest of any party to show undue haste or to bulldoze the rules and procedures”.“Such important bills cannot be passed in 24 or for that matter 48 hours,” he continued. “We would like to look at the bill positively for stability in the country.”
Nawaz said the PML-N couldn’t “possibly allow the dignity of the Parliament to be compromised”. He suggested to stress upon the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to adopt pre-parliamentary norms and laid down a schedule:
January 3: Bill presented before the National Assembly and referred to the concerned standing committee as political parties deliberate over recommendations in parliamentary meetings.
January 7 and 8: Standing committee considers the bill and sends a report to the lower house of the Parliament.
January 9 and 10: NA considers, debates and votes on the bill and forwards it to Senate.
January 13: Senate sends the bill to its standing committee.
January 15: Senate considers, debates and votes on the bill.
Nawaz maintained that this was the ‘minimum’ possible time-frame to pass the bill with “meaningful input”.
“We should also be cognizant of the fact that the Parliament should not be seen to rubber-stamp a bill of such importance,” he wrote and pointed out that the “political fallout for all parties will be substantial if parliamentary norms are not properly observed”.
Confirming the content of the letter to The Express Tribune, PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif said the party’s plan of action will be taken in light of the letter.
He said the letter was drafted following a meeting of PML-N leaders in London also attended by party president Shehbaz Sharif.
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