ISLAMABAD: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Chairperson, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Saturday has said that by ensuring the parliamentary procedure was followed during the ongoing legislation on the services chiefs’ tenure, proponents of parliamentary supremacy have secured a “victory for democracy”.
In November 2019, when the Supreme Court had instructed the parliament to legislate on the army chief’s tenure, it was expected that the federal government could have a hard time convincing the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — the two main opposition parties — to legislate on the matter.
However, neither the PPP nor the PML-N showed a great deal of resistance after Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak on Friday presented the Pakistan Army (Amendment Act), the Pakistan Navy (Amendment Act) and the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment Act) in the parliament.
The PML-N had already decided to “unconditionally support” the amendments, while the PPP had merely insisted that “democratic legislative process” be followed.
Bilawal today explained his party’s stance on the issue, claiming credit for not letting the bill be bulldozed through the parliament and deeming it a victory for democracy.
“When I landed in Islamabad the PML-N & PTI had agreed to unconditionally pass the army act on Friday in both houses, ignoring parliamentary procedure, not even circulating the bill to all members or sending the legislation for committee oversight,” Bilawal tweeted.
“I’m pleased all have now agreed that the bill will go back to NA committee, will also be reviewed by Senate committee and follow procedure of both houses. This is a positive that parliament that has been dormant for over a year is ready to legislate,” Bilawal said.
The PPP chief had earlier reiterated that his party would only back the legislation if the proper parliamentary procedure for the passing of the bill was followed in the parliament.
Bilawal said that “all institutions that derive powers from parliament” had asked the parliament to legislate on the matter, adding that “these are important victories for those who have always battled for parliamentary supremacy and democracy.”
The National Assembly is set to vote on the bills next week after they were approved by a NA Defence Commitee on Friday.
The amendments sought through the bills seek to make future extensions of army, navy and air force chiefs “airtight” as the bills state categorically that the decision to do so “shall not be called into question before any court on any ground whatsoever”.
Read more: Defence committees of NA, Senate approve Army Act amendments
