NA passes Islamabad local govt bill

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad local government elections which were scheduled to be held on October 09, are facing delay once again as the National Assembly passed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2024 amid opposition’s protest on Monday.

The ICT Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2024 contains three amendments and substitution of three sections of the ICT Local Government Act 2015. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan opposed the legislation for the reason that it was meant to cause further delay in holding of LG elections in the federal capital, the schedule of which had already been announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

According to amendment in section 7, the ECP would delimit union councils into nine wards for the elections of members on general seats. Previously, there were six wards in a union council.

According to substitution of section 15, all nine general members of each union council would be directly elected by the voters registered in the corresponding union council. According to an amendment in section 17, the words, the expression ‘the Representation of People Act, 1976 was be substituted with the Elections Act 2017.

According to substitution of section 11, there would be a chairman and a vice chairman of a union council as joint candidates, nine general members, one woman, one peasant or worker or business or technocrat, one youth and one non-Muslim member.

Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, to some objections raised by the opposition members, including Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, said the legislation also meant to empower councilors of wards who previously were totally powerless. He called upon the opposition members not politicise the important legislation.

Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, while responding to points raised by opposition members, said that it would not make any difference if local government elections in Islamabad are delayed for three or four days. He said the government wanted to empower local governments and solution of people’s problems at the grassroots level.

Meanwhile, several reports of various standing committees of the National Assembly were presented before the House. These include the State vs. Mubarak Ahmad Sani and another, the Establishment of Telecommunication Appellate Tribunal Bill 2024, the Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority Bill 2024, the Apostille Bill 2024, the Privatisation Commission (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2024.

Meanwhile, responding to a point of order, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Atta Tarar urged political parties to refrain from doing politics on the issue of terrorism.

“We have requested Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to establish a Counter Terrorism Department in the province at the earliest,” he said. He said there should also be safe city initiatives to combat terrorism.

The minister recalled the nation successfully defeated terrorism and restored peace in Karachi during the tenure of Mian Nawaz Sharif. Unfortunately, the previous government of the PTI brought back the Taliban to Pakistani areas and these elements are responsible for recent incidents of terrorism and bloodshed in the country.

Tarar also paid rich tribute to the sacrifices of the security forces and the law enforcement agencies in establishing order in the country.