Senate rejects two FATF bills

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Tuesday rejected two FATF related bills adopted by the National Assembly on Monday, as two major opposition parties – the PML-N and PPP – declined to support them.

The two parties insisted that the Leader of the House should withdraw his remarks against their leadership and the laid-down procedure concerning the bills be followed.

However, Dr. Shahzad Waseem, who represents the prime minister in the House, maintained that he had not named anyone and made a general statement that Pakistan had not been put on the grey list during the PTI government.

The PPP legislators were adamant that Dr Waseem should clarify that no political leadership but the Foreign Office had issued a notification against other persons and outfits, including Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Adviser to the PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan moved the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020 for consideration and adoption. However, both the bills were rejected through the voice vote.

Babar was of view that the chair could use its discretionary power for consideration and passage of the bills, keeping in view the national security and interests, as members of all parties had already debated and considered the bills.

The House witnessed lengthy arguments from both sides of the divide for and against Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani about using his discretion of taking up the bills for consideration without taking into account the two-day notice, as the National Assembly had passed them on Monday.

Law Minister Dr. Farogh Naseem, Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Sherry Rehman, Leader of Opposition Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Maula Bukhsh Chandio, Mushahidullah Khan and Javed Abbasi spoke on whether or not the chair could exercise its discretionary power after having allowed inclusion of the bills on the orders of the day, ignoring the notice period.

The House witnessed an exchange of hot words among the government and opposition members.

Contrary to the PPP and PML-N senators, senators from JUI-Fazl Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, PkMAP’s Usman Kakar and JI’s Mushtaq Ahmad asked the two major parties not to support the bills. One of them even said that at the end of the day, they would support the bills, as this could undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty and interests.

PPP senators Sherry Rehman, Chandio and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar were categorical in demanding that the leader of the house should apologize for his remarks about Asif Ali Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif.

Senator Sherry said it was a controversial matter, as on the one hand, he kept insulting and criticizing the PPP and PML-N leadership, on the other he was seeking cooperation from the opposition.

“Whatever cooperation we extended was for the sake of Pakistan but one government member would appreciate us for cooperation and the next would start berating our leadership. This motion will be defeated and now you will see how a bulldozer works,” she asserted.

Senator Mustafa Nawaz and Chandio contended that mudslinging of the party leadership was totally unacceptable.

“The other day, the Leader of the House said the opposition parties leadership faces money laundering charges, while today, advisor on parliamentary affairs said the opposition should support the bills, as these related to Pakistan national security. Whom should we believe is correct; Dr. Shahzad should withdraw his remarks against our political leadership, otherwise, I urge my seniors not to back these bills,” retorted Senator Mustafa.

Some opposition senators alleged that the leader of the house was trying to spoil the House environment and undermine the legislature by not showing tolerance, courtesy and respect for the opposition benches.

The Leader of the House, who earlier had a stiff position toned down and then maintained that he had not named any political leader, as he understood that sensitivity but tried to state facts about the money laundering.

Earlier, the Senate had a bumpy start, as the opposition senators staged a protest against not including the question hour in the orders of the day. Senator Rabbani charged that the government was running away from parliamentary accountability, as the leader of the house was asked to move a motion for suspension of the question hour.

The opposition senators then exited from the House. Senator Sherry pointed out lack of quorum. There were only 19 members in the house when the count was made. Bells were rung for five minutes but again the House lacked quorum with presence of 24 senators. The chair yet again ordered the ringing of bells for two minutes but this time 23 members were in the House, leaving the chair with no option but to suspend the proceedings for 30 minutes. After the suspension, the opposition made its way to the Senate.

Senator Rabbani said he was sorry to say that the foreign policy was not being framed at the Foreign Office. He continued that the situation today, which was evolving, was that the national security sphere had been widened and this included economy, energy, environment, and all other spheres of life.

He explained that the situation showed that now there was a hybrid democratic model with the veto power lying with the ruling elite and the citizens feeling alienated with their rights privatized.

Rabbani claimed that while the state was supposed to provide security to the citizens, he had to hire private security guards, provision of electricity was also the state responsibility and he was forced to use generator. Another state duty, he said, was provision of education but he had to admit his children to private institutions. He said there was tanker mafia for water supply.

“In such a situation, if citizens adopt the path of defiance, then it can yield dangerous results, which the federation can’t afford,” he warned. He again called for an intra-institutional dialogue led by the Parliament.