ISLAMABAD: The Senate Friday could not take up The Constitution (Amendment) Bill with regard to delimitation of constituencies for passage, as the required two-thirds majority of the 104-member House was not around. Now, the bill will be moved for adoption Monday. At least 69 members were required for passage of the bill but only 41 were present in the house. All members of PTI, and majority of MQM and JUI-F members were absent. The Upper House, however, unanimously passed the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2017, incorporating the provisions of Articles 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order-2002 with regard to the status of Quadianis or Lahore Group. The amendment restores a declaration for voters regarding Finality of the Prophethood and makes the sections relating to the Ahmadi community more effective. Section 7B states that the status of Ahmadis remains as stated in the Constitution while Section 7C states that if belief of a voter is questioned through a revising authority, he or she will sign a declaration to reaffirm belief, otherwise his or her name will be entered as non-Muslim in a separate provisional list. Law Minister Zahid Hamid moved the bill for adoption, as the House began its fresh session with Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani in the chair. The session was primarily summoned to pass two key bills – one relating to the Elections Act and the other the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2017 to pave the way to delimit constituencies on the basis of provisional census data. Adopted bill also carries declaration and oath both in Urdu and English for a voter. The bill inserts Section 48A in the Act XXXIII of 2017 which says: “Status of Ahmadis etc to remain unchanged; notwithstanding anything contained in this act or any other law for the time being in force, including rules or forms prescribed thereunder the status of Quadiani Group or the Lahori Group (who call themselves Ahmadis or by any other name) or a person, who does not believe in the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethood of Hazrat Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him), the last prophet or claimed or claims to be a prophet, in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever after Hazrat Mohammad or recognises such a claimant as a prophet or religious reformer shall remain the same as provided in the Constitution, 1973.” “If a person has got himself enrolled as a voter and objection is filed before the revising authority notified under this act that such a voter is not a Muslim, the authority shall issue a notice to him to appear before it within 15 days and require him to sign a declaration regarding his belief about the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethoot of Hazrat Mohammad. In case he refuses to sign the declaration,he shall be deemed to be a non-Muslim and his name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to a supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim. In case the voter does not turn up in spite of service of notice, an ex-parte order may be passed against him,” it says. Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan feared the section pertaining to the voter might be misused to settle scores with rivals at the time of registration of a voter. He referred to the ‘misuse of blasphemy law’ over the years by individuals and groups against rivals, whether it was an issue regarding land or a water dispute. He pointed out that the trend of filing applications against the opponents might not end. Aitzaz also said that he had come to the Senate to vote for the bill, as he wished the ambiguity in the law be settled. Aitzaz recalled his speech during the joint sitting of the Parliament in September 2014 against the sit-in at that time and that how the protestors had demanded resignation of a prime minister and held the Parliament hostage by using their sit-in. He continued now a sit-in was being held under the Faizabad intersection while there was hardly the government around for the last 14 days, as foreign minister, interior minister, railways minister were in Jati Umra with the prime minister. “Voices are raised as to why the Parliament is dissolved and the government sent home, but the government behaves this way,” he said. Aitzaz said while the Parliament had already decided to bring amendment in the law but the vote being cast in the evolved situation, prevailing scenario suggested that the matter would not end here and there would be more attempts to bring the Parliament under pressure and get demands met. Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq greeted the Senate Chairman, NA speaker, heads of parliamentary parties and lawmakers for their cooperation in making legislation with consensus. He added if any law, enacted here, could entail negative impacts by its misuse, then the Parliament would offer its solution too. He said the Parliament had passed the amendment in accordance with the Muslim belief. Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and JI’s Sirajul Haq also congratulated the Parliament and said that the status of Ahmadis, who were declared non-Muslims in the Constitution, had been reaffirmed today. Sirajul Haq raised a point, on which, Rabbani asked the law minister to satisfy the senator. Law minister clarified that there had been a misreporting regarding the bill, passed by the National Assembly and said that the provisions about the oath had been restored. He said the latest amendment involved more time for consensus, as at the time of amendment to the Elections Act previously, some parties wanted taking up this matter later on. He said that the 15-day period for filing of application against the voter’s belief (Khatmie Nabuwwat) envisaged in the Conduct of General Elections, 2002 had been omitted in the new bill on his proposal. Earlier, the House offered fateha for the departed souls of the army personnel, victims of terrorism in Quetta and unearthing of 15 bodies of workers from Punjab in Balochistan.
