National Assembly session on ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – FATA Merger’
ISLAMABAD: PML-N led government after a long delay, on Thursday is scheduled to table 31st Amendment Bill, 2017 in the National Assembly in an effort to fulfill its promise to “take Fata reforms to its logical conclusion during the current tenure of assemblies”.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is attending the 56th parliament session.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan who is mostly absent from the assembly sessions surprisingly attended the parliament session to vote for the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
The bill, which requires two-third majority to be passed, will be presented by Law Minister Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk.
Where the government lacks attendance, the opposition is in full strength.
Despite JUI-F MNA Maulna Jamaluddin pointing out quorum, the house remains in order. Leader of the Opposition Khurshid Shah told Speaker Ayaz Sadiq that history will remember that for the first time opposition maintained order of the house.
Pointing out that majority of the ministers were absent from the house, Shah said it showed the government’s seriousness in the cause. He asked for the bill to be tabled if the numbers were complete. “The bill could have been passed if the cabinet members had shown,” noted Shah.
Meanwhile, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed has said that the absent lawmakers were being called to attend the session. At least 200 parliamentarians are currently present in the house while 228 is the required number.
Draft bill to amend Constitution for merger of FATA with K-P
The Fata reforms bill
The much-hyped bill includes merger within two years despite staunch opposition from two of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N)’s strongest allies – Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).
The draft bill seeks to amend seven articles in the Constitution of Pakistan to allow implementation of proposed reforms. It seeks to omit paragraph C of sub-clause 2 of Article 1 under which Fata is placed as separate territory of the country like the four provinces. The omission will allow the tribal areas to merge with territory of K-P.
The bill proposes amending clause 1 of Article 51 by reducing the number of seats in the National Assembly from 342 to 326. It adds clause 3A after clause 3 to give legal cover to representatives who will be elected from Fata in the general polls 2018. They will continue as member of the National Assembly till expiry of their five-year-term and after the five years, this new clause will stand omitted.
It also seeks removal of the word “Federally Administered Tribal Areas,” from the clause 5, under which seats of the National Assembly are allocated on population bases, and from sub-clause 1 of Article 155 which deals with the complaints and interferences with water supplies.
The draft pursues changes in Article 59, which deals with Senate, by reducing the number of Senate members from 104 to 96. It omits the sub-clause (b) of clause 1 that allocated eight members to the tribal areas. It will also delete the sub-clause (b) of clause 3 of the same article which states that four senators elected from Fata shall retire after three years while another four after next three years.
Furthermore, it seeks omission of the word “Federally Administered Tribal Areas” from its sub-clauses (b) and (f) of Article 272 which defines the constitution of Senate.
Federal cabinet clears bill for FATA, K-P merger
It proposes omitting clause C of Article 246 which defines and names Fata and seeks addition of clause D which states that laws applicable in these areas will remain applicable until repealed or changed by competent authority.
Under Article 247, the competent authority will be the federal government until after the elections when the jurisdiction for altering and repealing the laws prevailing in these areas will be passed to the assembly.