RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Thursday approved ‘The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016’ with some amendments under which Supreme Judicial Council would be bound to decide a reference within 90 days.
The committee which met with Senator Muhamamd Javed Abbasi in the chair passed ‘The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016’ with some amendments in Article 209 moved by Senator Senator Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan. The bill seeks three amendments in Article 209 of the Constitution relating to complaints against judges. It asks for making all complaints public, making decisions within 45 days of the complaint and provision of punishment in case of baseless and false complaints.
The committee also discussed ‘The Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2016’ moved by Senator Sassui Palijo and ‘The Constitution Amendment Bill, 2016’ introduced by Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja on behalf of some other senators seeking to promote regional languages and giving them status of national languages.
The committee decided that two bills were similar in nature and they be clubbed together to avoid overlapping.
Senator Palijo said that regional languages need to be given proper recognition as they promote national integration and build a strong federation. She said that a number of movements are going on in the country demanding national status to these languages.
According to statement of objects and reasons of the bill moved by Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja, the languages in any part of the world are considered to be a strong tool to transmit the memory form older generation to the newer one. Pakistan has inherited the old civilisations of Mohenjo Daro, Taxila, Ghandara, Harappa and Mehar Garh. All these civilisations are greatly spread in the whole country and have their own beauty and expression.
The major mother tongues of Pakistan are Balochi, Brahvi, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Seraiki and Hindko and these languages have preserved Pakistan’s regional and national history and culture.
The Constitution of Pakistan is a mother document of the country which should recognise all languages equally and it does not prefer one language to the other.
The objective of this bill is to recognise all the languages in the Constitution and set an example of having acceptance of all people of Pakistan speaking any language, belonging to any corner of the country.
Majority of the committee members and mover of the bill supported both the bills, saying this legislation would further strengthen the Federation.
However, the committee decided that it is a serious issue and there is a need to hold a further discussion on it.
The committee referred the matter raised by Senator Saeed Ghani regarding recalling/withdrawal of order by the chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) wherein acting/current charges were given to various officers of NAB in violation of rules and reappointment of same offices on the same day in the Own Pay Scale (OPS) to the parliamentary committee constituted to revisit and suggest amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.
