ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned a National Asse­mbly session on Tuesday, amid expectations that a joint session of parliament will consider and pass the seminaries registration bill that he recently refused to sign.

The bill’s rejection by the president infuriated Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party that has threatened the government of street protests if the bill is not signed. The bill had been passed by Senate and then National Assembly before being sent to President Zardari for his final nod.

However, the president returned the bill to the lower house, objecting that it was against the gist of 18th Amendment. Under the constitution, if president raises some objections, the bill goes back to the house from where it has been forwarded. However, in case of objections, only the joint sitting of parliament can pass it again.

A source in the government told Dawn that President Zardari is expected to call a Senate session soon, after the National Assembly’s, and sessions of both houses will be in progress simultaneously.

The development comes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl to assure him that the government would expedite the seminaries bill approval.

The JUI-F chief had earlier warned that if the bill was not signed into law by Dec 7, he would announce his next course of action at a rally scheduled for Sunday evening in Peshawar.

It is expected that the NA during its session may pass a resolution to refer the bill to a joint sitting of parliament.

The government is said to be under immense pressure of the JUI-F that it could go for a countrywide protest on the issue of seminaries registration and the situation could benefit the opposition PTI that recently marched on the federal capital in a bid to get ex-premier Imran Khan released from jail.

The JUI-F spokesman exp­ressed astonishment over rejection of the bill by the president, saying it was the ruling coalition that had moved the bill in the first place.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024