ISLAMABAD: The ECP on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a reference seeking the disqualification of PML-N lawmaker Adil Bazai. A three-member bench of the commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the case. Bazai’s counsel maintained that he had never joined the PML-N and asserted that a fake affidavit had been submitted in his name with the …
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Monday passed six bills, including one seeking an increase in the number of Supreme Court judges and another related to the extension of the terms of armed services chiefs, amid deafening protest by the opposition. A few hours later, the Senate also passed the amendment bills. If President Asif Ali Zardari signs off on them, …
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly, which meets again today (Monday), is expected to pass three important bills in its current session, including two laws related to the Supreme Court and another regarding preventive detention of terror suspects for up to three months. Much-touted amendments to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act is one of the three bills expected to be …
ISLAMABAD: In a significant move, the government on Friday quietly introduced a crucial bill in the National Assembly, seeking to grant military and civil armed forces the authority to keep individuals facing terrorism charges in ‘preventive’ detention for up to three months. Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah referred the bill, which proposes amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997, …
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to defer the introduction of a key bill — seeking to amend the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act — in parliament due to a lack of consensus among the coalition partners, sources told Dawn. During the National Assembly’s sitting on Monday, a couple of treasury lawmakers had hinted that the government planned to table …
KARACHI: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has said that he would not act on the Supreme Court’s decision in the matter of the reserved seats allocated to PTI, saying that he would prefer to wait for the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision before taking action. In a wide-ranging interview with Geo News aired on Sunday, he referred to the …
ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the allegations levelled by Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan about the presence of the “personnel of the intelligence agencies in the uniform of assembly’s security officials” inside the house during the proceedings related to the 26th Constitutional Amendment bill aimed at bringing drastic changes to the judicial system. …
ISLAMABAD: Weeks after an embarrassing retreat on a package seeking sweeping changes to the Constitution, the government plans to bring it to parliament soon, hoping that it will secure the required support for its passage. “The constitutional package is most likely to land in parliament in the first week of October,” Irfan Siddiqui, PML-N’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, told …
ISLAMABAD: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), has said he rejected the government’s proposed constitutional amendments, criticising the draft for limiting fundamental rights and expanding the military’s role. The JUI-F leader made the statement while speaking to the media in Multan on Friday, highlighting his concerns over the draft received from the government. …
ISLAMABAD: Following a flurry of meetings in Islamabad on a Sunday, centred around the residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the National Assembly and Senate sessions are set to convene at some point tonight over the highly anticipated but closely guarded ‘constitutional package’. Both the sessions were scheduled for much earlier in the day but have been delayed multiple …