RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: A newly elected senator of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was left red-faced after the Minister for Law and Justice rejected his bill, saying the amendments proposed by the member had already been done almost a year ago.
Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a lawyer by profession, moved a bill in the Senate to further amend Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 and Code of Criminal procedure, 1898. He proposed that under existing law, there is only six months imprisonment or Rs3000 fine for those who implicate others in fake cases.
He said that penalty for such people should be at least three years imprisonment as well as Rs 300,000 fine. To this, Law and Justice Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Bashir Virk said the amendments had already been done by the government, adding the jail term had been enhanced to seven years with a fine of Rs1 million.
The revelation by the minister not only left the mover [Khokhar] embarrassed but his party colleagues including Opposition Leader Sherry Rehman also had to beat their chests for their ignorance regarding an important piece of legislation.
In utter frustration, Senator Khokar was left with no option but to blame the legislative branch of the Senate. “It has been cleared by the legislative branch of the House…they must have processed it after not finding it on the statute book. I would rather say if legislation had already been done, it is the incompetence of the Senate’s legislative branch,” he blamed the Senate officials instead of accepting his fault.
The minister also read out the whole legislation done by the government, but even then Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani directed the legislative branch of the House to check it again and report back to the House by next private members’ day.
Another bill, moved by Senator Samina Abid, sought that the government should make special provisions for free and compulsory education for children having dyslexia disorder. She said that 12 million school going children are suffering from dyslexia and there is a need to take special measures for such students.
The government did not oppose the bill titled ‘The Right to Free and Compulsory (Amendment) Bill, 2018” and it was referred to the concerned committee for further consideration by the chair.
