Creation of South Punjab, Bahawalpur provinces: Senate body to hold public hearings

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday decided to hold public hearings on the creation of new provinces, including the proposed South Punjab and Bahawalpur.

This was decided during the standing committee meeting here with Senator Syed Ali Zafar in the chair. The committee also decided to take up the issue of appointment of judges and regulation of suo moto powers separately.

The Senate Standing Committee decided to take up anti-rape cases with specific regard to the Faisalabad incident and the panel chairman observed, “Rape cases cannot be taken lightly and negligence in implementation of the Anti-Rape Laws will not be tolerated, continuous monitoring is the only answer to bring those who commit these heinous crimes to justice".

The senator directed the committee to take up anti-rape cases in the subsequent meetings and also ordered to summon the IGPs of all the provinces, including the Federal Capital’s IGP, the secretary for interior and the home secretary, to discuss the impediments in implementing the law and obtaining practical suggestions for improving the investigation and prosecution in rape cases. At the outset, the committee chairman regretted the absence of the minister who, he noted, should have been present.