Senate, NA to proceed on Army Act amendment bill on Monday

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly and Senate sessions on Army Act amendment bill which were scheduled to be held on Saturday (today), have been deferred till Monday (January 06), ARY News reported.

The Senate and National Assembly have rescheduled their sessions for Monday, the official Twitter accounts of the two houses of the parliament said.

The bill of extension in the service term of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and other services chiefs will be tabled in the NA and the Senate on Monday.

The National Assembly session that was scheduled to be held today (Saturday) at 11:00 am will now be held at 4:00 pm on Monday. The Senate session will be held at 3:00 pm on the same day.

It is to be mentioned here that the draft of Army Act amendment bill was approved by the standing committees for defence of the both houses of the parliament on Friday.

The sessions of the standing committees of the Lower and Upper Houses were chaired by Captain (retd) Jameel and Senator Waleed Iqbal yesterday where the Army Act Amendment Bill 2020 was presented.

The parliamentary committee for defence unanimously approved the Army Act amendment bill.

Government Senator Azam Swati said the draft bill was neither opposed by any political party nor any amendment was presented in the session. He said Federal Minister for Law Farogh Naseem briefed the legal aspects of the draft bill which was unanimously approved by the all members of the committees.

The government had earlier decided to table a draft bill for amendment in the Constitution and the Army Act to pave the way for a three-year extension in Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure in Wednesday’s session of the National Assembly.