ISLAMABAD: Members privileges were thrown overboard when the National Assembly met here this morning [Sept 24] as [the] constitution-making body and summarily rejected Sardar Shaukat Hayat’s Bill on the issue by 83 votes to 21. The Opposition had nurtured its hopes in wake of hectic efforts over the whole of the past week to woo a good number of ruling party members: and it had in fact succeeded in obtaining 75 signatures, including 35 from PPP and three from Qayyum League members, on notice for requisitioning a meeting of the Assembly as the constitution-making body.

Overnight developments apparently came as a shock to the Opposition because when Sardar Shaukat Hayat’s request for leave to introduce the Bill was put to vote none of the PPP members voted for it. Even Mr Abdul Hamid Jatoi whose name appeared on the agenda as a co-mover of the Bill with Sardar Shaukat Hayat and Mr Ahmad Raza Qasuri, who is almost always in forefront of anything which is critical of his own party, were not present in the House. … Education Minister Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, speaking on Mr Shaukat Hayat’s Bill, accused the Opposition of indulging in “conspiratorial activities”… .

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2022