Renowned intellectual, leading columnist and Senator of Pakistan Muslim League (N) Irfan Siddiqui has demanded Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf to trace his missing bill which was passed by both Senate and National Assembly fourteen months ago. After approval by the Houses, it was sent to the President for ratification. Senator Irfan Siddiqui has made this demand in a letter written to Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf. Senator Irfan Siddiqui has said in his letter that after his arrest in July 2019, he had decided that the Administration should be completely separated from the judiciary as per the requirements of the Constitution.
In 2019, the scholarly Irfan Siddiqui was arrested and handcuffed under the Tenancy Act and produced before a female Assistant Commissioner who ordered him to be sent to Adiala Jail on judicial remand for fourteen days. Senator Irfan Siddiqui has said in a letter to the Speaker that after becoming a member of the Senate, he prepared a bill to amend the Criminal Code to bring this 125-year-old law into line with the Constitution. During the PTI government, the bill came to the Senate and was approved by the Senate’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs.
On May 23, 2022, this bill was approved by the Senate and on June 8, 2022, by the National Assembly, after which on June 21, 2022, this bill was sent by the Prime Minister’s House to the President’s Office for formal approval by the President. Senator Siddiqui said that he raised this demand in Parliament but no trace of the bill was found. In August 2022, the Presidency officially clarified that no such bill had come to them. In his letter, the honorable Senator requested the Speaker to issue orders to trace the missing bill. The Speaker should order an inquiry to trace the elements behind the disappearance of this bill because the disappearance of a law passed by Parliament before it comes into force is a blatant insult to Parliament which is unprecedented in any country in the world. Concluding the letter, he has told Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf that despite the dissolution of the National Assembly, he is still standing on his constitutional position, so he should send the bill that has been missing for fourteen months for President’s approval. Senator Irfan Siddiqui had written this letter to Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf on 7th but till now no body knows that he has replied to it or not. It is quite surprising that the National Assembly has kept a secretive silence about the matter which has become a big national issue and is being discussed in the media. So far no explanation has been released from Speaker Office. It should be said that if the bill approved by Parliament is missing for fourteen months, what effort did the National Assembly Secretariat make to trace it ? How many reminders were sent to the Prime Minister’s Office and why this criminal negligence in search an important document of the Parliament’s legacy was made ? Now this matter is not Senator Irfan Siddiqui’s. This bill is the legacy of Parliament. Some bills certainly offend the judiciary and it declare the relevant laws null and void. Some times the President does not like and send them back. But it is unimaginable that this bill has completely disappeared. I am sure that there is no example of this level in any other democratic country in the world.
If this had happened somewhere, I don’t know which official would have suffered the consequences. I think that the Chairman Senate and the Speaker of the National Assembly did not show much sensitivity in this regard. Otherwise, this bill would have been traced by now. It is also worth mentioning that Parliament has approved a contempt bill under which a person who violates the order of Parliament or any of its committees can be punished with six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs. one million. The question arises here that if parliament or its officials themselves become so indifferent about the bill they passed and do not know about it for fourteen months, is it not an insult to parliament? How and who will get the punishment for this insult? So much so the President of Pakistan is a part of Parliament by the spirit of Constitution, he should take notice of this matter because fingers are being raised on his office as well. As the President of the State and part of parliament, he should play his role in tracking this bill. It is their constitutional right to consider the bill, express reservations or return it, but he should not remain silent on the disappearance of the bill.Is Pakistan a Banana Republic?
—The writer is editor, book ambassador political analyst and author of several books based in Islamabad.
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