ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice will meet on Tuesday to take up a heavy agenda that includes four constitution amendment bills on key issues.

The committee headed by Muhammad Kazim Khan of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will also review three private members’ bills on issues related to women, according to the agenda.

Through the bills, the members have sought key amendments to various articles of the Constitution, dealing with local government elections, ban on dual nationality held by judges and civil servants, reserved seats for labourers in the legislatures and national language status for regional languages.

LG ELECTIONS: The most important bill the committee is scheduled to take up has been moved by Mohsin Leghari, an independent senator sitting on the treasury benches.

Through the bill, Mr Leghari has sought amendment to Article 140A of the Constitution, making it binding on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold local government (LG) elections within 45 days of the completion of the term of a local government.

The “Statement of Objects and Reasons” attached to the bill says that “the constitutional amendment is designed to cater to the absence of specified time for LG bodies elections in the Constitution”. Because of this lacuna, it says, “we have not had LG elections since 2005”.

“Therefore, in order to bind the ECP to hold regular elections of the LG bodies within a specified period, this amendment is necessary,” it concludes.

DUAL NATIONALITY: The other bill to be taken up by the committee has been moved by PPP Senator Raza Rabbani and Sughra Imam seeking a ban on holders of dual nationality to become judges of superior courts and civil servants.

The movers have sought amendments to Articles 177 and 193 of the Constitution, stating that no dual nationality holder can become a judge of the Supreme Court or high courts.

“A person in the Service of Pakistan shall not hold dual nationality or citizenship of any foreign country,” says another amendment suggested to Article 240.

However, the bill says the dual nationals can be eligible to become judges or join services of Pakistan, “if they renounce the same within 60 days of the coming into force of this act”.

The bill explains that “the term renounce shall mean the filing of a bona fide, irrevocable and irreversible declaration in writing by the person mentioned in this proviso, as required by the law of foreign state, with regard to giving up of the foreign citizenship or nationality”.

“All public office holders — be they elected representatives, civil servants, armed forces personnel or judges — must have all their stakes in the country in which they hold positions of power, privilege and trust,” say the movers in the bill.

SEATS FOR WORKERS: The committee will also take up the constitution amendment bill moved jointly by Raza Rabbani and Saeed Ghani seeking seats reserved for workers or labourers in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

The bill seeks amendments to Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution which describe the composition of the National Assembly and all the four provincial assemblies.

Through the bill, the PPP members have called for allocating four reserved seats, one from each province, for workers in the National Assembly. Similarly, the movers have suggested that besides reserved seats for women and non-Muslims, each provincial assembly should have two seats reserved for the representatives of workers.

The “Statement of Objects and Reasons” attached to the bill states: “A worker as defined in the Industrial Relations Act, 2012, constitutes a major segment of Pakistan’s population and is one of the major sources for generation of wealth in the country. Therefore, it is essential that they have representation in Parliament and the provincial assemblies.”

The movers have suggested that the law should come into force “after the next general elections to be held in 2018, unless such elections are held earlier”.

NATIONAL LANGUAGES: The bill moved by Haji Adeel of the Awami National Party (ANP) seeking the status of national language for the regional languages is also on the agenda of the committee’s meeting.

Through the bill, the ANP senator has sought amendments to Article 251 of the Constitution, giving the status of the national languages to Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi and Seraiki besides Urdu.

It also urges the government to make “arrangements” for the use of these languages for official and other purposes within 15 years from the commencement of the act.

“Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi and Seraiki are spoken by a majority of population of Pakistan. After the 18th Amendment it is necessary to give the status of national languages to all languages of federating units. Even in India some of above-mentioned languages have been declared as national languages,” says the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” at the end of the bill.

A similar bill was rejected by the standing committee of the National Assembly recently.

The committee is also scheduled to take up two bills moved by PPP’s Farhatullah Babar seeking amendments to the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 and the Anti-Rape Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act 2013 moved by Sughra Imam.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play