ISLAMABAD: Putting up a strong and unified front, the opposition in the National Assembly managed on Tuesday to force the government to back down on its version of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) bill.

As a result of their sustained pressure, the government agreed to form a 10-member bipartisan committee, consisting of members of both houses of parliament who will make recommendations for changes in the bill.

Following the agreement, the remaining six bills on the agenda of the joint sitting of parliament were also deferred until April 11, when the combined house will resume proceedings.

Members of the committee include Mushahidullah Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Khurram Dastagir and Zahid Hamid of the PML-N; Syed Naveed Qamar and Saeed Ghani of the PPP; PTI’s Asad Umar; National Party’s Hasil Bizenjo, MQM’s Farooq Sattar and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The National Assembly speaker is allowed to make changes in composition of the committee if necessary. The committee is expected to finalise its report by April 7.

Again on Tuesday morning, the opposition and government resumed their talks to decide whether the PIA bill could be passed in its current form.

10-member committee to recommend changes; matter to be taken up in next joint sitting

“In the meeting, the government suggested the formation of an oversight committee if the opposition agreed to the passage of the PIA bill. In response, the opposition parties asked why a committee couldn’t be formed before the passage of the bill,” a participant of meeting told Dawn.

PTI chief whip Dr Shireen Mazari told Dawn that the opposition had taken a firm stand on the bill, arguing “there is a major trust deficit between the two sides and to resolve it, the PIA issue should be sent to committee for thorough examination before any bill is laid before parliament.”

She said that the government had finally agreed to this demand, adding that this boded well for the future of democracy in Pakistan, as major decisions were not bulldozed, but rather taken through national consensus.

However, PTI’s Asad Umar said the committee would only prove fruitful if both sides took up the PIA issue with an open mind. He said the government had so far failed to explain how it wanted to introduce sweeping changes in PIA’s operations without privatising it.

When asked, PPP’s Shazia Marri said the main issue was that the PIA bill had been twice rejected by the Senate, so if it was passed in the joint sitting, it would’ve undermined the federation. She said the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was the ideal forum to address this, but the government seemed reluctant to use it.

A senior PML-N lawmaker told Dawn that the government was already on the back foot over retired Gen Pervez Musharraf’s exit. “I think it was the right move on the part of government not to antagonise the opposition, which was united on the PIA bill.”

“Let’s see what happens in three weeks, but the issue has been put on the back burner, at least for now. Otherwise, we have a majority in the joint house and can pass the bill of our choice on any given day,” he said.

But a couple of PML-N lawmakers decried what they thought was a “weak response” to the opposition. “As far I know, some ministers had even conveyed their reservations with Senator Ishaq Dar to the prime minister, who was accused of being unduly accommodating the opposition,” said one PML-N lawmaker.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2016