ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the Senate Shibli Faraz Friday slammed the government for enacting laws to cover up corruption of the powerful elite rather than legislating for the public interest.Speaking on a point of public concern in the House, he alleged that the PDM government previously had done amendments to come clean and used the NAB to its advantage.
“The responsibility of the elected representatives is to legislate what is in the interest of the masses but for quite some time, things are being done quite opposite using the parliament,” he noted. Referring to the bill passed by the parliament to regulate and ban public assemblies in Islamabad, he said the government was passing ‘anti-people and anti-democracy’ laws.
He pointed out that ‘the law passed by the house – a democratic platform – about regulating public assemblies had embarrassed us’.
He said after the ouster of PTI government, the ruling coalition had introduced two laws, one banning the use of electronic voting machines in the general elections and the other scrapping powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which were also anti-people. The House also passed a unanimous resolution to commemorate September 6 as the Defence Day of Pakistan.
The resolution was moved by the Pakistan People’s Party Senator Poonjo Bheel. Earlier, speaking on her calling attention notice, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri said the United Nations report was presented in August 2024 stating that scores of people had died in Balochistan due to the pre-monsoon rains, dozens were injured, and deaths increased due to monsoon rains and floods.
She claimed that even small bridges had not been repaired yet and relief and financial aid to the rain and flood victims was not given.
She asked for accountability of those, who were to carry out all these activities. She wanted to know where the allocated funds had gone, while many in the province were without shelter.
Senator Manzoor Ahmad, who was presiding over the session, referred the matter to the House standing committee concerned. Later the House was adjourned due to lack of quorum and will resume Monday afternoon.