ISLAMABAD April 2: The National Assembly's standing committee on law and parliamentary affairs on Friday unanimously approved the proposed draft National Security Council (NSC) bill which had been referred to it by the lower house in the morning.

The draft bill was approved in only 35 minutes as there was no discussion, nor any opposition, informed sources told Dawn .

According to NA rules, the chairman of the standing committee will move the bill in the house, which requires a simple majority, to pass it.

The bill is expected to be passed by the lower house on Monday when it will resume proceedings after a two-day recess.

It may be mentioned that the federal cabinet at a meeting on Feb 28 had amended the bill to address reservations of coalition partners including the MQM, and deleted the council's three proposed functions, relating to democracy, governance and inter-provincial harmony.

The chairman of the standing committee, Rai Mansab Ali, of the ruling PML-Q, presided over the meeting which was also attended by the Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raza Hayat Harraj, Zahid Hamid, Shahid Akram Bhinder, Wasi Zafar, Kashmala Tariq and Nawab Mirza.All opposition members of the committee boycotted the meeting in line with their joint policy.