ISLAMABAD: A legislative body on Monday approved “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 153)” introduced by Senator Barrister Murtaza Wahab and Saleem Mandviwalla asking for inserting a proviso in paragraph (c) of clause (2) of Article 153 of the Constitution regarding Council of Common Interests namely, “Provided that the members nominated by the Prime Minister shall be one from each province other than the Province from where the Prime Minister was elected as a Member of the National Assembly”.
Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice held its meeting under the Chairmanship of Senator Javed Abbasi here at the Parliament House. The meeting also discussed “The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2017” introduced by the Law Minister. The Committee members raised queries as to the said law will be prospective or retrospective in nature and decided to defer the matter and call Law and Justice Commission to give a briefing to the committee.
“The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 255) introduced by Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati was also discussed. The Committee was told that the matter has been referred to Council of Islamic Ideology and will be taken up in the Council’s next meeting.
Senators Murtaza Wahab, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Azam Swati, Secretary law and justice attended the meeting. The Committee observed one minute silence for the victims of attack on Church in Quetta.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Law on Monday shelved Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Senator Azam Swati’s proposed legislation that would have changed an oath taken by non-Muslim members of parliament upon being sworn in.
Swati had tabled the bill to modify Article 255 of the Constitution in order to amend the oath administered to non-Muslim members of the parliament.
His bill sought to omit the tasmia (beginning the oath in the name of Allah) from non-Muslim parliamentarians’ oaths. “We cannot ask non-Muslim members of the Parliament to recite the first kalimah,” Swati explained while presenting the bill.
The oath for non-Muslim members should also replace the term ‘Ideology of Islam’ with ‘Ideology of Pakistan’, his bill suggested.
Upon reading that clause, the head of the committee remarked that “there is no difference between the ideology of Islam and the ideology of Pakistan.”
“There may be no difference between the two for us Muslims, but you should ask non-Muslims what the difference is,” Swati responded.
However, members of the law ministry objected to the bill saying it was touching on what is currently a highly sensitive matter. “This is a dangerous issue. Let us postpone it for now,” the chairman of the committee said in agreement.
Published in Daily Times, December 19th 2017.
