ISLAMABAD: The PTI-led federal government has tabled an amendment bill, aimed at changing the procedure of Senate elections, in the National Assembly today (Wednesday).
Federal Law Minister Barrister Farogh Naseem introduced the bill for 26th amendment in the constitution during the session. “This amendment is being introduced to allow Senate elections through open ballots and to allow dual nationals to run in the elections”, he informed.
“No one wants to steal the election, we want transparency in the polls,” the law minister stressed, adding, “Is it unconstitutional to seek an amendment in the constitution?”
The opposition protested against the bill and tore up copies of the agenda. They also accused Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser of bias, saying that the opposition has been cast aside in parliamentary proceedings for the past two years.
Qaiser wanted lawmakers to discuss the constitutional amendment bill the government plans to seek a vote on, but PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal in his speech said, “The chair purposely ignores PML-N’s calling-attention notices and adjournment motions.”
The PML-N further said that his party wanted to debate the rise in the prices of electricity and petrol, the LNG issue and wheat and sugar scandals but wasn’t allowed to.
Iqbal said “not a single” calling-attention notice had been taken in the ongoing parliamentary year. He claimed that during the PML-N era, opposition members were allowed to speak for even two hours on end.
“However, here we feel like the opposition has been given the status of unwelcome members. Whenever we stand up, our mics are turned off,” he said, adding, “This is not the PTI’s assembly, this is the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
Iqbal also accused the government of targeting the opposition as part of its revenge tactics in order to make it ineffective, saying Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, PPP leader Khursheed Shah and the opposition leader in Punjab, Hamza Shehbaz, were all jailed due to the same reason.
The speaker then invited Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem to speak about the salient features of the amendment bill, but he could hardly do so amid loud sloganeering from the opposition.
