ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday tabled in the National Assembly a bill aimed at extending jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

However, the government seems reluctant about the passage of the much-awaited right of access to information bill which could not be introduced in the house for a third consecutive day due to lack of quorum.

The bill to extend the jurisdiction of the apex court and the IHC to Fata was introduced by Law Minister Zahid Hamid. No debate, however, could take place on the bill as lack of quorum was pointed out by Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party president (PkMAP) Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

Right of access to information bill could not be introduced again for lack of quorum

This enraged the law minister and a heated argument was witnessed between him and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Shireen Mazari.

The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the extension of the Supreme Court and IHC’s jurisdiction to Fata as a first step towards implementation of the long-overdue reforms in the terrorism-hit tribal areas.

A national implementation committee under Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has already been constituted to oversee the political, legal, administrative and developmental mainstreaming of Fata. The committee in its first meeting last week had decided to install a transitional mechanism and create a position of a chief operating officer for the period of transition.

In March, the federal cabinet under former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had approved a set of steps to be taken for the proposed merger of Fata with KP and a 10-year reform package to bring the tribal region on a par with other developing areas of the country. Over Rs110 billion development package, proposed by the Fata reforms committee, had also been approved for the seven agencies of the tribal region.

It seemed that the government itself was reluctant to introduce the bill as it could not get passed for a third consecutive day on Friday due to lack of quorum.

Although the bill was on the agenda of the session, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb was absent from the assembly which shows her lack of interest in the issue. Secondly, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (which has over 200 seats in the lower house) could not ensure the presence of party legislators in the National Assembly for the third consecutive day on Friday. It is a government bill and it has already been unanimously passed by the Senate.

Two other bills on the agenda regarding amendments to Auditor General’s functions and powers also could not be introduced. Similarly, expected debate on a call attention notice on atrocities being committed against Rohingya Muslims could not take place.

Climate change

Earlier during question hour, the issue of climate change gained attention of the members as several questions were raised by them on the matter and its repercussions in the country.

Many legislators accused the government of doing nothing on the ground to mitigate the sufferings caused by climate change but making tall claims of taking a number of decisions and steps in this regard.

Members, including Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Shahida Rehmani, Munawar Ali Talpur, Sheikh Salahuddin, Tahir Iqbal and Najma Kishwar, asked the government what steps had been taken to overcome water scarcity in the country, protect green areas and give awareness to farmers so that they could make timely arrangements to save their standing crops and produce better yield.

On this, a parliamentary secretary, Raja Javed Ikhlas, informed the house that the government had taken several steps since June 2013 under the Sustainable Development Goals related to each objective for climate change.

He said the government had ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change in November last year and a study carried out by an expert group, Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, was forwarded to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat before 22nd Conference of Parties (COP-22) commenced.

The secretary said the Pakistan Climate Change Bill has been passed unanimously by both houses of parliament for the establishment of Pakistan Climate Change Authority to prepare and supervise implementation of adaptation and mitigation projects in various sectors.

He said that a national forest policy had been approved by the Council of Common Interests and the Green Pakistan Programme had been launched with the objective of building resilience and mainstreaming adaptation and mitigation considerations through ecologically-targeted initiatives, including measures for revival of forestry resources and conservation of biodiversity.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2017