On Tuesday, both houses of
Parliament were expected to approve the Election Act Amendment Bill by majority
vote, just as now, after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's motion, the matter is
expected to go to the Supreme Court once again. Election Commission/Peshawar
High Court on allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities in National
and Provincial Assemblies (PTI's support or Fatah) to other parliamentary
parties instead of giving them to Sunny Ittehad Council. Annulling the decision
of PTI declared that PTI as a party has the legal and constitutional right to
get certain seats. The 13-member bench, in a ratio of eight to five judges,
declared on July 12, 2024 that PTI as a party is legally and constitutionally
entitled to win certain seats.
With this decision, the
possibilities of changing the composition of Parliament and other houses were
clear. Due to the delay in the detailed decision, two judges, Justice Aminuddin
Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, who disagreed with the majority decision,
issued a detailed dissenting note on August 3, 2024, in which it was said that
relief was created for the PTI. , PTI was not a party in the case. This was the
perception of the government circles since the time of the brief order of 12th
July and the argument in favor of legal amendment in this chapter was coming
out that the Parliament is the supreme body which is empowered to make, amend
and repeal the constitution. The bill, which was passed in the National
Assembly and later in the Senate on Tuesday, rejecting the amendments proposed
by the opposition, under which a candidate who does not submit the party
certificate before obtaining the election symbol will be considered
independent, the list of reserved seats within the specified period. In case of
non-submission, no political party shall be entitled to reserved seats.
Expression of affiliation to a political party once in the prescribed period
shall be irrevocable.
As a result of the approval of the Election Act Amendment Bill 2024 passed on August 6, PTI's political and parliamentary victory, obtained by the court decision of July 12, turned into a defeat after 25 days. Thus, the two-thirds majority of the government coalition will be maintained for the time being, through the legal change made by the government's response strategy, the way to implement the court decision of July 12 has stopped and the way has been paved for the restoration of these members of the specific seats. He was suspended by court order. As far as PTI's possible approach to the Supreme Court is concerned, it is not correct to say that the judiciary and the administration will come face to face. This question comes up again and again in all the countries which are called the model of democracy, which function of the judiciary and the parliament is superior. The fact is that the Supreme is only a constitution which is created by the parliamentarians and interpreted by the judiciary. In terms of legal requirements, seemingly face-to-face organizations work within defined boundaries and seek answers to questions about authority and responsibility. The beauty of democracy is that where necessary questions are raised, answers are sought and practical ways are explored. As far as the enforcement force is concerned, it is either with the ruler or the government, so a safe way should be found avoiding the line-up, which will lead to excitement, frustration and instability.Give hope and encouragement to the nation.
Loan Rollover:
The assurance of rollover of
loans of 12 billion dollars for one year by the friendly countries is surely a
sigh of relief for the government awaiting the final approval of the seven
billion dollar loan program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pakistan
has special financial arrangements with China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates in the form of trade loans and safe deposits that are rolled over
annually and form a major part of the IMF program in terms of external
financing requirements. Following the staff-level agreement, the IMF said the
new Extended Fund Facility program is subject to the approval of its Executive
Board and timely confirmation of necessary financial assurances from Pakistan's
development and bilateral partners. Pakistan had requested China to roll over
the payment of five billion dollars, four billion dollars from Saudi Arabia and
three billion dollars from the United Arab Emirates for three to five years,
which these three countries promised to postpone for one year. Is. According to
the finance minister, the loan from friendly countries will be rolled over this
month.
In a briefing to the Standing
Committee of the Senate and in a conversation with journalists, the Finance
Minister said that during the full IMF program, there is a financing gap of
three to five billion dollars, which is not that big. Loans are available from
international commercial banks. Pakistan will also issue Panda Bond soon. The
federal government will not impose sales tax on petroleum products, nor will
loans be taken from international commercial banks at high interest rates.
Digitization of FBR and conversion of coal power plants to indigenous coal may
take two to three years. All individuals are being brought into the tax net.
The government is taking many steps to revive the economy, but there is still a
lot to be done in this regard.
Delay In Passport Issuance
Complaints of delay in issuance
of passports in the country have been continuously increasing for several
months. In the last days of April, immigration officials were quoted as saying
that the number of pending passports has reached six lakh, including both
urgent and fast-track passports. Officials said that the passports of most of
the citizens who applied for passports with the normal fee have not been
printed since December 2023. Urgent fee applicants should receive their
passports within five business days of applying, but they are also facing a
wait of around three weeks to a month, with no mechanism in place to inform the
public of delays in passport delivery. has gone However, yesterday Federal
Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs Azam Nazir Tarar, while answering a
question in the National Assembly, assured that the issue of passport issuance
will be resolved in two months because the passport printing capacity will
increase to 55,000 to 60,000 per day by the end of September. will be done,
The
Law Minister explained that in 2004, machinery and software were installed
according to the requirements of that time, which has the capacity to print 24
to 26 thousand per day, but now the demand for passports has increased to 45
thousand per day. Apart from this, the number of missions is also 20. It has
increased to 92 and passport offices have also increased to 300, so tenders
have been taken to import new machinery and modern printers. It is hoped that
as per this assurance, the problem of delay in issuance of passports will be
resolved within the specified period. But in such situations, the concerned
authorities should inform the people of the difficulties they face in advance
so that they do not suffer from unnecessary waiting.
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