Senate body approves Cooperative Societies Amendment Bill 2020

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on Interior Tuesday approved the Cooperative Societies Amendment Bill 2020.

The committee approved the Bill after a detailed review and discussion, however, Senator Farooq H Naek agreed with the objects and reasons of the Bill with his dissenting note on one clause. The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior was held Tuesday in the Parliament House chaired by Senator Abdul Rehman Malik.

The Cooperative Societies Amendment Bill 2020 was approved by the National Assembly on Monday and referred to the Senate that sent it to the Standing Committee on Senate for consideration and it is expected that the Bill now be presented before the Senate for its consideration.

Chairman Senator Rehman Malik said, “We have to enact necessary legislation as per the demand of FATF as being on its grey list is a national issue. He said that it is very important and national duty to get Pakistan out of the FATA’s grey list.

The committee strongly condemned the incident of rape of a woman on the Sialkot and Lahore, expressed great concerns over it. Rehman Malik expressed that it was very unfortunate incident and the committee would conduct a detailed inquiry into it as it had pursued the Zainab’s case to its logical conclusion.

Members of the committee also demanded a transparent inquiry into the incident and said that those involved in this heinous crime should be severely punished. Senator A Rehman Malik informed the committee that he has sent a questionnaire to the Ministry of Interior seeking a detailed reply on it. He said that justice must be delivered to the victim.

The committee decided to convene a special meeting on September 21 and directed that IG Punjab, CCPO Lahore and concerned authorities to appear before the committee to apprise the members on the incident. Rehman Malik said that all legal aspects were reviewed and included in the questionnaire. He also directed the official to submit the reply on 30 questions with 3-days to the committee.

Senate Standing Committee on Interior will meet again today (Wednesday) on to consider “The Anti- Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020. The meeting was attended by Senators Farooq H Naek, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Sardar Shafiq Tareen, and Kulsoom Parveen and Federal Minister Azam Swati besides officials of Ministry of Interior and concerned

officials.