ISLAMABAD: The government managed to secure the passage of two key bills seeking the reinstatement of military courts from the National Assembly on Monday, but without the support of two of its allies.

The 28th Constitutional Amendment Bill — which will be numbered as the 23rd Constitutional amendment after its passage from the Senate — was passed by 255 votes to four against, more than the required two-thirds majority needed to pass an amendment.

The Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2017, which is required to facilitate the setting up of the military courts, was passed by a majority through a voice vote.


PkMAP votes nay, JUI-F abstains in NA; resolution to form national security committee adopted


The Senate is expected to take up the two bills on Wednesday (today) and after their passage, the military courts will stand revived for a period of two years starting from Jan 7, 2017 — the date on which the courts had lapsed under the previous arrangement.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who rarely graces parliament with his presence, remained present in the house until the completion of voting. This was his first participation in the National Assembly’s regular proceedings following his controversial address on Panamagate in May last year.

Following the bills’ passage, the house also unanimously adopted a resolution on the formation of a Par­liamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) to monitor and oversee security-related issues and the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

The opposition parties had made their support to the bills conditional to the formation of the PCNS and this was one of the main demands of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Three members of the Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party (PkMAP), led by its chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, and independent Jamshed Dasti voted against the two bills, while Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) members abstained from the voting.

Besides Mr Achakzai and Mr Dasti, Abdul Qahar Khan and Naseema Hafez Panezai of the PkMAP voted against the bills. One member, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the PkMAP, was not present in the house.

Similarly, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, whose party has been at the forefront in supporting the military courts, and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were prominent among those who skipped the crucial sitting.

The two bills, moved by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, were passed by the assembly with four amendments as per the understanding reached with the PPP in order to put some checks on possible misuse of the law.

When the PkMAP members opposed the bills, the JUI-F members — who had earlier agreed to support them — decided at the last moment to abstain after the rejection of their amendments calling for the removal of the words “religion or a sect” in the clauses referring to terrorist groups.

The JUI-F and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) had boycotted proceedings when parliament passed the 21st Constitutional Amendment Act, allowing the setting up of military courts to try civilians under terrorism charges in January 2015 on the same grounds.

The PTI had boycotted the National Assembly at the time after more than 30 of its members sent their resignations to the speaker and was not present in the house in January 2015 when the first amendment was unanimously passed by 247 votes in favour.

Earlier, winding up the general debate on the two bills in the presence of the prime minister, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar pledged that the government would pro-actively work on judicial reforms and the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) over the next two years.

Mr Dar also mentioned the amendments incorporated in the bills passed by parliament two years ago in order to ensure fair trial and to prevent their misuse.

Under the new laws, anyone arrested will have to be presented before a court within 24 hours and handed over their charge-sheet, as well as being provided an opportunity to engage a lawyer of their choice. Otherwise, the government will arrange a counsel for the accused person. Finally, all cases in the military courts will be tried under the Qanoon-i-Shahdat (Law of Evidence).

Mr Dar expressed the hope that the Senate would also pass the two bills on Wednesday.

PCNS

The resolution for the formation of the PCNS was initially read out by the law minister and later Mr Dar presented an amended version on the suggestion of certain opposition members.

The four terms of reference (ToR) of the proposed PCNS will be “to discuss issues relating to national security of urgent nature; periodically review, monitor and oversee implementation of NAP; to present periodical reports of the committee to both the houses of the parliament and to monitor the process of transfer of cases from military courts to the civil courts through criminal justice reforms.”

The PCNS, however, will not help remove the primary concern of the critics about the performance of the military courts.

Mr Hamid said that it had been agreed by the parties that the committee of the parliamentary leaders that had been formed by the speaker for building a consensus on the military courts bills would continue to work as the PCNS. Sources said that Mr Dar would head the PCNS.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017

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