16 private member bills landed in Senate, one rejected

ISLAMABAD: As many as 16 private member bills on Monday were introduced in the Senate while a motion to introduce the bill to provide for establishment of the Pakistan Future Council was rejected by the House with 25 votes against and 16 votes in its favour.

Caretaker Minister for Interior Sarfraz Bugti did not oppose the motion to introduce the Pakistan Future Council Bill, 2023 by Senator Sania Nishtar, the state news agency reported.

However, majority of senators termed it creation of supra-body over the already existing bodies like Planning and Development Commission.

The chairman put the motion for vote on the request of Sania Nishtar. Some 25 senators voted against it while 16 senators supported it.

Earlier, moving the motion, Sania Nishtar said it was not a supra body over any other institution rather the council has only advisory and consultative role. She was of the views that all developed countries had such council and Pakistan had not such body.

However, Saadia Abbasi, Sherry Rehman, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Irfan Saddiqui and Mushahid Hussain Syed opposed it and said that in parliamentary system, the opposition and parliamentary committees played role of watch dog.

The other 16 introduced bills were included, the Imports and Exports (Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Cutting of Trees (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Pakistan Ehsaas Targeted Subsidies (Riayat) Programme Bill, 2023, the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Pakistan Emergency Treatment Coverage Programme Bill, 2023, the National Security Council (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the National Database and Registration Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Injured Persons (Medical Aid) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Islamabad Capital Territory Charities Registration, Regulation and Facilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Islamabad Capital Territory Protection of Breast-Feeding and Child Nutrition Bill, 2023, the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Pakistan Names and Emblems (Prevention of Unauthorised Use (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The bills were introduced by Senators Zeeshan Khan Zada, Shahadat Awan, Palwasha Mohammed Zai Khan, Sania Nishtar, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Fawzia Arshad and Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani in the House.

The Chairman Senate referred all the bills to the concerned standing committees for detailed deliberation.