Bill to ‘regulate’ rallies in capital rushed through NA

• Law minister says Islamabad turned into a ‘cage’ due to frequent protests, road closures
• Gohar says govt ‘weaponising’ judiciary through the bill • Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024 also gets NA’s nod after Senate

ISLAMABAD: Within a day of its passage by the upper house of parliament, the contentious bill against unauthorised gatherings in the federal capital sailed through the National Assembly on Friday amid strong objections and protests by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers.

The government bulldozed the bill proposing up to three years imprisonment for members of such unauthorised gatherings after Speaker Ayaz Sadiq allowed ruling PML-N legislator Danyal Chaudhry to introduce it as a private member’s bill through a supplementary agenda and put it for a vote without referring it to a committee.

The bill will become an act of parliament when President Asif Ali Zardari will sign it.

The opposition earlier made a botched attempt to block the passage of the ‘Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill 2024’ when Jamshed Dasti pointed out lack of quorum. However, the speaker declared the house in order after a headcount amid desk-thumping by the treasury members.

The bill seeks to empower the district magistrate to regulate and ban public gatherings in Islamabad and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar explained that the purpose of the move was to save residents from the menace of road closures due to frequent protests.

Need for haste questioned

While expressing concerns over the government’s move, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan questioned the need for haste in passing the legislation and the lack of adequate debate on it. He termed the proposed law against the fundamental rights of peaceful gatherings and freedom of expression.

Through this bill, the government was “weaponising” the judiciary, he said.

Under the existing laws, the PTI chairman said, the city administration already had the authority to issue a no objection certificate and a code of conduct for public meetings and take action against any code violation.

PTI’s chief whip Aamir Dogar said all the legislations carried out by the PML-N-led coalition government were aimed at targeting his party. Such laws were used to be implemented by the British rulers before 1947 to subjugate the people of the subcontinent.

‘PTI-specific law’

He said the bill was being passed only two days before the PTI’s planned public meeting in Islamabad and its purpose was to “punish” the opponents. He termed it a “PTI-specific law”, stating that the government had “crossed all limits of fascism”.

In an attempt to allay such concerns, the law minister had a day ago assured the Senate that the legislation was not aimed at banning the planned power show of the opposition PTI in the federal capital.

Despite the opposition reservations, the government suspended the rules to push the bill through.

Responding to the opposition’s speeches, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar justified the government’s move to get the bill passed through the National Assembly without referring it to the committee, after its passage from the Senate.

He said the bill had already been thoroughly discussed in the Senate committee which was headed by a PTI member.

Capital turned into a ‘cage’

The law minister said that due to frequent protests, the federal capital had been turned into a “cage”. He said the commuters and the residents of the capital had been facing hardships due to road closures.

In other parts of the world, he said, there were laws for designating special venues for protests. He also assured the PTI that if the opposition had any objection or wanted to amend the law, it could make an attempt even after its passage.

Elections bill

The National Assembly also passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2024, already passed by the Senate, in a similar fashion. The minister, however, told the lower house of parliament that there was no major amendment in the proposed bill and it was aimed at removing some ‘typographical error’.

Earlier during the question hour, the speaker suspended the proceedings for a few minutes over the absence of some ministers. While Mr Tarar apologised to the speaker, he explained that it was because of the simultaneous sessions of the both houses of parliament.

The speaker suggested the law minister to ensure effective time management and deferred all the questions.

The National Assembly will now meet on Monday, at 5pm.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2024