PTI’s bill for hike in credit limit for small provinces gains support

ISLAMABAD: A bill moved in the Senate on Monday by a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senator from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on increasing credit limit, primarily for smaller provinces, forced the opposition and some treasury members to vote for it.

On a Private Members Day, the opposition staged a noisy protest in the House when a new precedent was set by Deputy Chairman Syedaal Khan, who withheld the results of the count after allowing voting on a motion seeking to take the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) bill for immediate consideration.

The chair said that three or four members had risen during counting for the opposition and the government with regard to the bill. However, the opposition legislators persisted with their demand for announcement of the head count voting result and staging protest, but the deputy chairman abruptly adjourned the House to meet again on Tuesday morning.

Senators from the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), JUIF and ANP voted in favour of the bill, and it was even more surprising for the treasury benches that two PPP and one PMLN senator also voted in support of the motion, which was strongly opposed by the government.

PPP’s Sardar Umar Gorgaij (Balochistan) and Nadeem Bhutto (Sindh), who voted in favour of the motion, were seen again on their feet during the count of those opposing the bill after the PPP parliamentary leader Sherry Rehman explained the bill to them. However, PMLN’s Mir Dostan Domki preferred to leave the House after voting in favour of the motion.

BAP members including ex-caretaker PM Anwarul Haq Kakar, Manzoor Kakar, Danesh Kumar and Samina Mumtaz Zehri, Kamran Murtaza of JUIF and Hidayatullah of ANP were also among those, who voted in favour of the motion.

The bill moved by Senator Mohsin Aziz sought to fix minimum credit limit to be extended to private sector by the scheduled banks in each province at the 60 per cent of total deposits from that province excluding government borrowings.

However, Minister of state for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervaiz Malik raised an objection and argued that Article 74 of the Constitution clearly states that the consent of the federal government was required for any bill seeking to amend the state bank of Pakistan Act.

He wondered as to how the bill was made part of the agenda in the absence of consent from the government. Law and Justice Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar rose to endorse his contention. But Senator Mohsin appeared totally unconvinced and said that his was not a money bill, and explained that neither it would affect the federal consolidated fund nor involve a single penny from the government exchequer.

To the surprise of many, he said the provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan collectively get less than two per cent of the total loan portfolio of the private banks despite being in the forefront in fighting the menace of terrorism.

On the request of the law minister, Deputy Chairman Syedaal Khan Nasar announced deferring the bill, but a strong protest from the opposition forced him to reverse the decision. “Take your seats and we will go for voting,” he told the opposition senators who had gathered close to his podium chanting slogans and throwing torn up copies of the agenda in the air.

The law minister reiterated his position and said it was not a provincialism and that there should be no politics on this matter, being a constitutional issue. He suggested that the bill should be deferred and a consent of the government be obtained before bringing it back to the House.

Leader of the Opposition in the House Syed Shibli Faraz maintained that the bill had nothing to do with Article 74 of the Constitution and demanded of the chair that the count, already made, be declared.

The law minister emphatically said, “You cannot change name of Pakistan by a majority vote. The House cannot be run over and above the Constitution”. Then he contended that the bill was against scheme of the constitution, therefore, it may be referred to committee with a ruling that that it might be decided with reference to Article 74 of the Constitution.

PPP’s Shahadat Awan referred to a letter written by him to the Senate chairman on Nov 4 to point out a glitch found in the procedure pertaining to the introduction of Private Member Bills falling under the provisions of Article 74 of the Constitution.

He said, “…no such procedure is found within the Senate Secretariat or Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business in Senate 2012, to deal with the Private Member Bills, comprised of requisites provided in Article 74. Additionally, the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) constituted under rule 17 (2) of the Rules of Business, 1973, also lacks such provision to deal with Private Members Bills. This results in rejection of the Private Members Bills dealt under Article 74”.

He said the Secretariat should assist the private members in dealing with such bills, and coordinate with Cabinet Division for getting nod from the federal government before introduction in the House; and

During legislative business, the Senate adopted the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) (Amendment) Bill that seeks to amend the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act of 2021, having been moved by PTI Senator Humayun Mohmand after the Law Minister did not oppose it, cleared by the House committee concerned already.

The law makes DNA testing mandatory in rape cases and binds every police officer to get the rape victim tested through the laboratories, recognized by the federal government or the provincial government concerned. It would be compulsory for the investigation officer to collect DNA samples within 72 hours of the occurrence of the crime, for the purpose of investigation.

The statement of objects and reasons of the bill says that Sindh Assembly had already passed a law in 2017, by inserting new sections in Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, for compulsory DNA testing of rape victims. The law helped the Sindh police in arresting offenders involved in committing rape against women and children, it reads.