As many as nine new private member bills were introduced in the upper house of the Parliament on Monday and referred to concerned standing committees. The bills included, the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Amendment of section 377 of PPC), the Islamabad Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management Bill, 2024, the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the ICT Rights of Persons with Disability (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2024] (Insertion of sections 344B, 344C, 344D and 344E in Cr.PC, the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Amendment of Articles 1,51,59,106,154,175A,198 and 218 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan), the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

Senators Samina Mumtaz Zehri, Palwasha Muhammad Zai Khan, Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Fawzia Arshad and Aon Abbas moved the bills in the House. Chairman Senate Syed Yusaf Raza Gillani referred all the bills to the concern standing committees for detail deliberation after not opposing by the Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar. Regarding, constitutional amendment bill of Aon Abbas, the chairman clarified that the Senate had passed the constitutional bill seeking to curve South Punjab province with two-third majority and referred it to the National Assembly. However, their party had no majority in the National Assembly and it could not be passed in 2012, he said. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the issue was being politicized today. Despite remaining in governments in Punjab and Centre for three and half year, Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf (PTI) did nothing in this regard and now was making point scoring on this issue, he said.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan