Standing committee on defence to meet again to discuss bills formalising service chiefs' tenure

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the standing committee on defence has been summoned once again on Monday, January 6, 2020 to discuss and approve the amendment bills formalising service chiefs' tenure , Geo News reported Sunday. 

According to sources, certain rules and procedures of the parliament were violated in the last meeting of the defence committee. Hence, another meeting has now been called to approve and discuss the Army Act, Navy Act and Air Force Act amendment bills. 

It is pertinent to mention here that during the last meeting of the standing committee which took place on January 3, the three bills had been approved. 

Sources said in the meeting of the standing committee that took place on January 3, parliamentary secretary Captain Jamil Ahmed presided over the session which was in violation of the rules and regulations of the parliament.

Sources further said Ahmed did not call for a vote when the time came to approve the bills. Hence, Amjad Khan Niazi will chair the session of the standing committee when it meets again to discuss the amendment bills on Monday.

In the meeting that took place on January 3, members of the senate had been called to discuss the bills. However, senators have not been asked to attend the meeting of the standing committee on Monday which will again discuss the same bills.

It must be kept in mind that the committee had accepted all three bills during the meeting that took place on January 3.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have already given their assent to the amendment bills. The PML-N has announced it will support the bill 'unconditionally' while the PPP has called for the 'democratic legislative process' to be followed.

These laws will will set the maximum age limit of the three services chiefs — chief of army staff, chief of air staff and chief of naval staff--64 years. If the bills get passed, the prime minister will have the power to extend the tenure of any service chief and the president will give his final nod.

The amendments also sought through the bill seek to make future extensions of army, navy and air force chiefs 'airtight' as the bills state categorically that the decision to do so "shall not be called into question before any court on any ground whatsoever".

The committee will meet on Monday, the same day that lawmakers will vote on the bills at the National Assembly. A session of the Senate has also been called on the same day.  

SC issues detailed verdict in COAS extension case

On November 28, the top court, in its short order, had allowed the federal government to grant a six-month extension to COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The court "found that the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 falls deficient of the structural requirements for raising and maintaining an Army under clause (3) of Article 243 of the Constitution".

The verdict noted that "no tenure or age of retirement for the rank of General is provided under the law. As per the institutional practice a General retires on completion of a tenure of three years. Although an institutional practice cannot be a valid substitute of the law."

The apex court had allowed General Bajwa to continue to serve as the army chief for six more months before the government legislated on the matter.