Divided Senate panel passes ICT public order bill

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on Interior passed the “Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024” with a majority vote despite opposition from its chairman on Tuesday.

The Senate Committee on Interior passed the bill with a majority vote, though its Chairman Faisal Saleem Rehman, having no vote only expressed his concerns and Senator Saifullah Abro voted against it. It was presided over by Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman on Tuesday. It unanimously passed three Bills titled “The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2024”, “The Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Bill, 2024”, and “The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Amendment Bill, 2024”.

Senators Saleem Mandviwalla, Samina Mumtaz Zehri, Irfanul Haque Siddiqui, Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari and Umer Farooq moved the Bill titled “The Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024” on Monday. Senator Irfan Siddiqui said the bill aimed to regulate peaceful assemblies in the Islamabad Capital Territory because the growing number of processions has made the lives of citizens miserable. He said even today there are containers on different roads of Islamabad and people are facing difficulties. “The purpose of bringing the bill is to make the protest in Islamabad conform to the law,” he said.

Opposing the bill, Chairman Committee Faisal Salim questioned the purpose of bringing a new bill in the presence of existing laws. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla argued there was no law to regulate peaceful assemblies. He said that they wanted to bring the processions under the law, “often things go to the court after which the judiciary and administration come face to face”. “On Monday, Kashmir Highway was blocked and we could not attend the Senate session as only 25 people had also blocked the Srinagar Highway,” he said. He said there was neither any political purpose nor political agenda behind this bill but they only wanted to regulate the protests. Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri suggested designating a specific place for assemblies on the pattern of Hyde Park, London. Senator Saifullah Abro said that the bill was put forward to target a certain political party and served no one. Disagreeing with Senator Abro, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri said the aim of the bill was not to target any political party.

The debate saw an acrimonious exchange between senators Saifullah Abro, Shahadat Awan and Palwasha Khan who exchanged hot words. However, things cooled down with the intervention of Senator Umar Farooq. This followed voting on the bill where all the members voted for it except Senator Abro who voted against it. The chairman of the committee shared his concerns since he had no vote. Subsequently, the committee approved the bill by 6 votes to one. This bill was only presented on Monday.

Senator Saifullah Abro highlighted the unlawful arrest of Senator Mushtaq Ahmed and alleged atrocities committed against his family during his arrest. He argued that the Constitution provides dignity to every citizen, which should not be violated at any cost. The Senate panel directed the interior ministry to submit a report on the incident at the next meeting. Furthermore, the committee unanimously passed three Bills titled “The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2024”, “The Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Bill, 2024”, and “The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Amendment Bill, 2024”.

They were moved by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who said that the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill was aimed at deterring the rising cases of online child abuse across the country. She added that over the last five years, the FIA has recorded more than two million cases of child exploitation imagery uploaded onto the internet. The other bills addressed human trafficking and smuggling by increasing the punishment for these offences.