Parliament sets a new record by passing 54 bills in four days
Opposition berates govt for bulldozing bills in parliament
Parliament in the past four days has set a new record by passing 54 bills!
Army Act Amendment Bill 2023, the Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023, the PEMRA Ordinance Amendment Bill 2023, Press Council Amendment Bill 2023, and other bills were passed within a span of four days.
The coalition government for the second consecutive day made a new record of passing a plethora of bills ignoring the tradition and set procedure of doing the legislative business, which has raised many questions over this unprecedented practice.
The treasury benches on Wednesday passed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Press Council of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
These bills were passed without sending the same to the concerned standing committees for debate.
The government took the lead by successfully pushing through 35 bills of the 54 bills that were passed, related to the establishment of private universities.
The fastest legislation was opposed by the opposition members, as well as by some of the allies of the incumbent government.
Jamiat ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Alia Kamran recorded her protest during the approval of bills by the government in haste.
The Balochistan National Party also objected to the legislative process and complained of not taking them into confidence.
The lawmakers from both sides also complained that those bills were also presented in the houses and passed which were not even on the agenda.
On the other hand, Awami Muslim League chief and former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed says the National Assembly with only nine lawmakers in attendance passed 53 bills in just two days, setting a world record of speedy working of democracy.
In his statement posted on the microblogging site X (Twitter), Rashid said no industry was running in the country except the bill-manufacturing factory.
The former interior minister added the lawmakers who did not even know what the law was, were passing bills without realizing that they would fall prey to their own legislation one day.
85 رکنی کابنیہ نےقومی اسمبلی میں 9 ممبروں کی حاضری پر2دنوں میں 53 بل پاس کر کے جمہوریت کی تیز رفتاری کاعالمی ریکارڈ قائم کیا اور تو کوئی فیکٹری چل نہیں رہی بلوں کی فیکٹری چل رہی ہے جس ممبر کو یہ بھی نہیں پتہ کہ وہ کیا قانون پاس کر رہا ہے اور اُس نے خود ایک دن اپنی اس قانون سازی…
— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) August 3, 2023
