—– Parliament approves amendments to Election Act 2017
—– PML-N wins over allies to grant more powers to caretaker govt
—– Rabbani stands firm against added power for caretakers
By Anzal Amin
Islamabad: A joint session of parliament on Wednesday approved amendments to Election Act 2017, granting additional powers to the caretaker government to take important decisions on the economy and engage with international institutions.
The bill was tabled in the joint session by Parliamentary Affairs Minis-ter Murtaza Javed Abbasi which was approved with a majority vote.
The sub clauses 1 and 2 of Section 230 of the election act related to the functioning of caretaker government have been amended.
Under the amendments, the interim setup will not have the authority to sign any new agreement and make decisions on bilateral and multi-lateral agreements.
The caretaker government will be able to exercise powers on matters related to the ongoing projects, according to the amendments.
The development came after the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) successfully persuaded its allies in the Centre to ap-prove a bill granting additional powers to the caretaker setup, sources told.
Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms meeting, held with PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair, where Article 230 — which re-lates to the functions of a caretaker government — came under dis-cussion. The sources also said that under the proposed bill, the caretaker gov-ernment was given “unbridled powers”, which the allied parties, as well as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), opposed and the legislation was deferred in the joint session a day earlier.
After the discussion today, the PML-N agreed to make minor changes in the bill that would allow the interim government to only engage with bilateral donors and multilateral institutions.
Under the new changes, the caretaker regime is given the powers un-der clause 2A of Section 230, the sources further said, adding that the setup will not have powers to enter into new agreements.
The sources went on to say that the caretaker setup “can use its pow-ers in ongoing programmes”.
Before the electoral reforms bill was laid in the house, PTI Senator Ali Zafar reiterated his demand that the house reject the said clause as it was unsustainable.
“If you do not reject it, then the Supreme Court will reject it,” PTI’s Zafar told the parliament. The PTI leader said the “dilution” made to the bill was not enough as it was “unconstitutional and illegal”. Meanwhile, Senator Raza Rabbani in the joint session of Parliament on Wednesday again opposed giving powers like IMF-style agreements to the caretaker prime minister.
Rabbani said whenever the supervisors made such agreements, they had to suffer the consequences, our Prime Minister had to talk to the MD of the IMF again and again, it was against the status of the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Raza Rabbani said where it happened the IMF went to the political parties and asked if they would support the IMF agreement.
“The IMF asking of the political parties is an interference in the sovereignty of Pakistan,” he said, adding that the powers that were being given to the care-takers could not be given even to the elected Prime Minister.
“The ways of twisting the arms of imperialism have changed, today we are be-ing forced to change the constitutional scheme,” he stated.
Raza Rabbani said it should be told that privatisation come in day-to-day business, how can the supervisor who has to conduct elections in 60 days al-low privatisation, we have suffered from the consequences of Moin Qureshi’s agreement with the IMF.
“I am against giving the powers of Section 230 to the caretaker prime minister and the amendment of Section 230 should be withdrawn.
