Senate panel considers issue of ex-Fata senators

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday considered the matter relating to the situation, which will arise on bowing out of eight Senators, belonging to erstwhile the federally administered tribal areas (Fata) and decided to hold a separate meeting on this matter.

The matter of Fata senators was referred to the committee by Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on the situation in terms of its number of seats resultant from the 25th Constitutional Amendment.

After the amendment, Fata was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and consequently the seats of Senate of Pakistan from Fata will no more exist affecting the numerical strength of the House, as four of its members would retire next year while the other four by 2024.

The committee members were asked to deliberate upon the consideration of increasing the seats of each province so as to maintain the existing strength. The matter will be discussed in detail in a separate meeting.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi of PML-N here at the Parliament House and was attended, among others, by Senators Farooq Naek, Muzafar Hussain Shah, Sana Jamali, Barrister Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Ghous Niazi, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Azam Swati, Secretary Law and Justice, Chairman Nadra, Director General Operations Zahir Shah and officials from relevant departments.

The committee was given briefing by the National Accountability Bureau regarding its working and overall performance, procedure of taking cognizance of cases, inquiry and prosecution, operational methodology, timeline of cases, international commitments, and offences under National Accountability Ordinance 1999 among other matters. The briefing will continue in the next meeting.

On the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2018, chairman Nadra told the committee that the possibility of putting a mark on the identity card could not be ruled out but it would only be possible to be incorporated or taken out when a person comes to Nadra for getting his or her card renewed.

It was also informed that if it was decided to put a symbol/ark on the card then the changes of details in the Nadra form wouldn’t be needed. The Committee decided to make a decision on the bill in the next meeting after internal consultations.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2018 (Amendment of Article 27), The Ratification of Foreign Agreements by Parliament Bill, 2018 moved by Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Insertion of Article 253A) moved by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed were deferred due to the absence of movers.