Disqualified person can’t become party head

ISLAMABAD: The joint opposition in the Senate forced adoption of a key amendment on Monday to the Elections Act 2017 to bar a person from becoming an office-bearer of a political party after having been disqualified to be elected or chosen as a member of parliament.

The treasury senators termed the passage of the opposition’s bill a bid to undermine democracy, parliament and an attempt to bring back the legacy of military dictators General Ayub Khan and Pervez Musharraf, who previously had used this legislation against the popular political leadership.

The House passed the bill, The Elections (Amendment) Bill 2017, which seeks amendment to Section 203 of the Elections Act (XXXIII of 2017), in sub-section (1), which says: “Provided that the person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) under any law for the time being in force”.

Previously, in September, the opposition, despite enjoying clear majority in the Senate, was defeated by one vote, which had sought amendment to Clause 203, and hence the Elections Act was passed to allow PML-N to elect ex-premier Nawaz Sharif as its head. It was a different day and the joint opposition had apparently done its homework, passing through different stages, the bill was adopted by opposition’s 49 votes to the government and its allies’ 18 votes. It was a series of shouting matches between the two sides and only head-count decided the ultimate winner.

Senators, who were not present during the passage of the Elections Act 2017 on July 28, including Mian Ateeq Sheikh, Nauman Wazir Khattak and Kenneth Williams were also present for support to the combined opposition, along with the Fata senators.

Needless to say, the opposition’s celebrations are most likely to be short-lived, given the decisive numerical strength of the PML-N and its allies in the National Assembly; the piece of legislation is expected to be rejected there.

Using its heavy presence in the House, the joint opposition defeated a government attempt for referral of the bill to the House standing committee for deliberations and report through a voting match, after it was introduced by PTI Senator Shibli Faraz and PPP’s Taj Haider. Putting aside the traditions, Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani was left with no other option but to allow the opposition to move a motion for suspension rules to consider and adopt the amendment bill. Opposition senators insisted that enough discussion had already been held on the bill and the legislative procedure should be completed straight away.

Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq and other treasury senators said that the bid to get the bill passed on the basis of sheer majority on a particular day, without adopting the past traditions, would not strengthen Parliament. Senator Zafarul Haq called the opposition’s move an ‘ugly haste’ and wondered whom they (opposition) wanted to be pleased by doing so. The law minister questioned what exactly the urgency was and indirectly accused the opposition of bulldozing the legislation and wanted its referral to the committee concerned.

Minister for and Justice Zahid Hamid 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 Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Mian 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.

PML-N Senators Pervaiz Rashid, Javed Abbasi, Mushahidullah Khan, Ch Tanvir Khan, Nihal Hashmi, Salim Zia, Saud Majeed, Hafiz Hamdullah of JUI-F, Mir Kabeer of the National Party, PkMAP’s Usman Kakar and Sardar Azam Musakhail particularly slammed PPP senators for the bill, forgetting the sacrifices rendered by ZA Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. They wondered, whose hostage, had they become today.

“On the murder of their conscience, they are thumping desks today. Bhutto was hanged before elections, in the name of accountability, as his rivals could not compete him politically and it was a reality that Benazir Bhutto was martyred on the road, as she was a source of energy for politics and democracy,” asserted Senator Pervaiz.

He pointed out just six months before next general election, Nawaz Sharif was disqualified. He added once a prominent personality of the Sub-continent said that injustices were meted out more through courts than during wars. The former minister said that rivals did not have courage and therefore, they looked for support and claimed they would not be able to face the ‘court of masses’ after six months.

“You can get passed legislation through merciless majority, but would not be able to succeed during elections,” he retorted. Other senators described the adoption of the bill as an instance of extremism and called it a manifestation of negative attitudes. Senator Hafiz Hamdullah said when Caliph Hazrat Ali (AS) lost a case to a Jew, he continued as caliph, no one objected to it and added a court had given judgment against Bhutto, who was hanged and this was then called a judicial murder. “Today, dictatorship won and democracy lost,” he remarked.

Addressing the chair, he said he had been witnessing him upholding the traditions, but he had changed them in the House today when a space was created for the other side on the basis of its majority. The chair's observation for sticking to the traditions and referring the bill to the House committee, were totally ignored by the opposition. Mushahidullah claimed Nawaz was the most popular leader in Pakistan and an undemocratic attempt was made to keep him away from the people. He called the opposition’s bill a part of the attempt by certain forces against democracy.

The treasury Senators cautioned against using Parliament instead of ‘becoming a party’ and asked from where they (opposition senators) had brought the brief on the bill. “The law enacted by the military dictators should not be supported, as it is like poison for the Constitution and democracy,” argued Usman Kakar.

In their speeches, PPP Senators Taj Haider, Sehar Kamran, Mukhtar Dhamra and Azam Swati, Nauman Khattak, Shibli Faraz of PTI and PML-Q’s Kamil Ali Agha wondered why PML-N had opposed when Articles 62 and 63 were on way to be repealed during deliberations on the 18th Constitutional Amendment. They insisted the government wanted to remove the bar on a disqualified person to become office-bearer of a party just for Nawaz Sharif. “We can’t support legislation for an individual,” they said.

They contended that the Senate had written a new chapter in the history for democracy and against a person, who had been declared disqualified but the recent legislation against PML-N head was a blot on the face of Parliament and democracy. Senator Kamil Agha called for making public the name of person, behind the controversial amendment to the oath on the finality of the Prophethood.