Senate passes resolution for elections on time

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take steps for the holding of general elections within the stipulated time given under Article 224 of the Constitution.

The resolution was adopted amid speculations about the time of elections, and hours before the dissolution of the National Assembly.

Some members of the federal cabinet hinted at a delay in elections of at least four to five months and even more.

The resolution pointed out that the Supreme Court had ruled that holding elections under Article 224 of the Constitution was a must after the dissolution of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies or completion or their respective terms, in each case.

“As under Article 4, no person or institution had the only jurisdiction given to them under the law or Constitution and a caretaker government to be appointed on the dissolution of the legislatures or completion of their term, would hold elections and take decisions pertaining to day-to-day affairs for the interim period, fixed by the Constitution, and had no right to take any policy decision.”

“Therefore, this House demands the ECP to ensure holding polls within the stipulated period of time given under Article 224 of the Constitution and take all necessary measures in this regard,” the resolution reads.

“The House also demands of the state institutions to provide all possible assistance to the ECP in conducting elections on time, fulfilling its constitutional responsibility,” the resolution says, which was moved by JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmad.

Mian Raza Rabbani supported the resolution but complained that it was not shown to the members and only shared with the law minister prior to presenting it. “It is a contagious thing that the government started by bringing bills while hiding them from the House and got them adopted,” he remarked.

The House also passed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which was also passed from the National Assembly, aimed at streamlining the procedures to register and monitor ratings of TV channels as well as elaborating on the definitions of disinformation and misinformation.

A few days back, when the bill was tabled in the Senate, it was confronted with fierce opposition from the treasury and opposition benches, forcing the chair to refer it the relevant standing committee for deliberation and report.

Moreover, a day earlier, the government announced the withdrawal of the bill, following objections raised by some stakeholders on specific provisions in the proposed legislation.

During the Senate session, Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, who again moved the bill in the House, explained that one of the amendments to the law included empowering parliament for appointing the Pemra’s chairman.

She noted, “For the second amendment, we got a suggestion that word salaries could create confusion and should be replaced with ‘dues’ while further amendments included changes to the definitions of misinformation and disinformation.”

The minister regretted that the bill was criticised as a black law by certain segments of the society and a campaign was run against her and the bill was made controversial deliberately without being read.

However, she pointed out all working journalists gave input on amendments to the law for three days. “I pay tribute to these workers and I want to say that this bill belongs to media workers,” the information minister said.

The bill has taken away the power of chairman Pemra to close a running TV channel program.

Marriyum congratulated the media owners and working journalists for their fight for rights during three days. She said the amendments would ensure freedom of expression. She said the definition of misinformation and disinformation in the bill is in accordance with the UN Human Rights Council and 12 countries.

The minister said if an organization does not pay salary for two months, the government will not give advertisements, and if the salary is not paid, the Council of Complaints will impose a fine of up to Rs1 crore. As per amendments to the Pemra’s amended law, a parliamentary committee will be formed for the appointment of Pemra chairman, which will have two members each from the National Assembly and Senate. The opposition and the government members will be equal in the committee.

The bill states that the information ministry will propose five names for chairman Pemra and the committee will send one name for the slot of chairman to the president. Likewise, if the parliamentary committee fails to agree on the name within 30 days, the information ministry panel will send it to the prime minister.

Earlier, talking to media persons outside the Parliament House, the minister for information and broadcasting said that thorough consultations were held with all the stakeholders during preparation of the Pemra (Amendment) Bill 2023. She said the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) were involved in the consultation process and they supported the bill.

Major change in the Pemra (Amendment) Bill 2023 was the inclusion of Article 19, which guaranteed freedom of expression and definition of misinformation and disinformation, she added.

Marriyum said in the amended bill, the powers of Pemra chairman had been curtailed and entrusted to the Council of Complaints (CoC). She said she had closely witnessed the difficulties being faced by the media workers when she was in the opposition.

“Implementation of the minimum wage law for journalists and media workers is ensured in the amended bill,” she added.

Marriyum said presently there was no platform for the media workers where their appeals could be heard, but now media workers, journalists and owners had been given representation in the CoC.

The government had appointed a competent chairman of the Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees (ITNE), which redressed the complaints of newspaper employees. She said during the last nine months, the ITNE helped recover Rs140 million dues of the newspaper employees.

She said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had launched the landmark health insurance card scheme for journalists and media workers.

The PM, she added, also announced the establishment of a special fund for the working journalists who lost their lives in line of duty.