ISLAMABAD: Private bills were introduced with abandon in what looked like an opposition-less National Assembly on Tuesday as the government accepted, for consideration at committee level, all drafts coming from lawmakers of parties that stood by it in a standoff with the country’s longest protest ‘dharnas’, or sit-ins, in Islamabad.

Some of the 12 bills introduced on the first private members’ day of the session that began on Monday seek amendments to the criminal law, including the provision of stringent punishment for digging out bodies from graves for eating their flesh or selling their organs.

Others seek amendments to the Constitution, such as enabling Pakistanis with dual nationality to run for parliament and increasing special parliamentary seats for non-Muslim minorities.

All these bills — authored individually or by groups of lawmakers mostly from the ruling PML-N, the opposition PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jamaat-i-Islami and the government-allied Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — were sent to relevant standing committees of the house for report after Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid, standing in for the law minister, either raised no objection, or withdrew his reservations, to their introduction.

All these parties had supported Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by opposing demands for his resignation made by the protesting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), both of which continued their sit-ins outside the Parliament House since mid-August — although PAT leader Allama Tahirul Qadri announced wrapping up his party’s sit-in later in the evening.

In some cases, even Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of the PML-N persuaded Mr Hamid to forgo his reservations and let the proposed bills to be examined by the standing committees or some relating to electoral matters be referred also to an electoral reforms committee of parliament.

But no such favour was shown to mercurial independent member Jamshaid Ahmad Dasti, a supporter of the PTI-PAT ‘dharnas’, whom the house refused leave to introduce a constitution amendment bill seeking creation of a new province in south Punjab after Mr Hamid announced his opposition to the move.

Two bills proposed by 10 PTI members each were dropped because of the boycott of the house by the party since August and resignations submitted by 30 of its lawmakers, whose fate is yet to be decided by the speaker.

It has been rare for private bills to get approval of standing committees, usually dominated by ruling party members, and sail though the house.

WITHER OPPOSITION?: With the PTI remaining out of the house and the PPP and some smaller groups still savouring closeness to the ruling party since they supported it against the protests, there was little said against the government during the two days of the present session, except some subdued protests on Tuesday against a recent increase in electricity rates by about 30 paisa per unit – which was withdrawn later in the day on the prime minister’s orders – and complaints of over-billing by the state-run power companies.

So much so that no opposition member raised a finger against Monday’s suspension of the licence of private television channel ARY News for 15 days and imposition of a Rs10 million fine on it by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) or a month’s ban imposed a day earlier on the appearance of one of ARY anchors, Mubashir Lucman, on any media channel, although a minister appeared to have come prepared to face likely protests.

And without anybody asking for it, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, came out with a delayed response to a complaint made by Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in the house on Monday against the ban imposed on Mr Lucman, saying the action had “nothing to do with the government” and that it had been taken by Pemra on a directive of the Lahore High Court for his programme titled ‘Khara Sach” aired by his channel on Sept 22, 23 and 24, which he said, was derogatory to superior judiciary.

EBOLA ALERT: Earlier, the parliamentary secretary for cabinet secretariat, Raja Javed Akhlas, told the house in response to a call-attention notice that precautionary measures were being taken against the possibility of travellers afflicted with the deadly Ebola virus coming to Pakistan.

That, he said, included instructions issued for checking travellers arriving from stricken African countries and preparation of awareness and training programmes.

“The government is fully alert (to the situation),” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014