NA rejects bill seeking to remove Nawaz as party chief

ISLAMABAD: The ruling party on Tuesday ensured that there are enough members in the National Assembly to block opposition’s move to undo a clause in the Elections Act 2017 that had enabled Nawaz Sharif to head party.

Pakistan People’s Party lawmakers Naveed Qamar and Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho tabled the bill to further to amend the Elections Act, 2017 [The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2017].

98 lawmakers of the joint opposition voted in favour of the amendment, while 163 members of the ruling coalition voted against it. Former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali who was elected on the PML-N ticket voted against the party policy.

The Supreme Court in its July 28 order in Panama Papers case had disqualified Nawaz Sharif and directed the anti-graft body to file corruption references against him and other family members.

The PML-N leadership on Monday made hectic efforts to ensure maximum no of the MNAs during the session amid reports of formation of a forward block.

Following the development, Maryam Nawaz paid gratitude to all the members who were in the assembly today despite all sorts ‘pressure and threats’.

The bill, which sought amendment in Clause 203 of the Election Act, 2017 was rejected amidst a ruckus as the members shouted against each other and the Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was compelled to interfere and stop the members.

Shah Mehmood of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf said the amendment was person specific and was only made to benefit Nawaz Sharif and is in violation of the constitution. Under the light of Supreme Court order, he is no more Sadiq and Ameen and should not be eligible to hold party office, he added.

Law Minister Zahid Hamid rejected the allegations of the opposition and informed the House that a Senate sub-committee in November 2014 had approved the amendment in presence of PPP’s Naveed Qamar, Farooq Naek, Shazia Marri.

He vehemently opposed the opposition’s move and recalled how General Ayub Khan had inserted the very clause in the Political Parties’ Act in 1962 and this bar lasted till 1975, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s democratic government moved to make the act in accord with the Constitution after dubbing it against the Constitution and democracy.

This, he noted, was brought back by Musharraf in 2000 and then was part of the Political Parties’ Order 2002, aiming at Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

The minister contended that the needless move was against the fundamental principles of political parties as well as the Constitution, as the legislation had already become a law and during over two years of deliberations at various stages, not a single member objected to the related clause and now all of a sudden after the Panama case judgment, they wanted to target an individual through the amendment.

Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said that political parties including PML-N, PPPP, JI, JUI-F and others rendered great sacrifices for the sake of democracy. No one would be allowed to hostage democracy and the struggle would continue for people of the country, he added.