Proposed anti-terrorism law in limbo

ISLAMABAD: The controversial Protection of Pakistan Bill is still in limbo as the PPP is now angry over the government’s move to approach the JUI-F on the proposed anti-terrorism law after reaching an agreement with opposition parties. The PPP’s leaders are reported to have decided not to support the bill if the government includes in the agreed draft any amendment proposed by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F. Zahid Hamid, the Minister for Science and Technology, handed over to a JUI-F team, headed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, on Thursday the agreed draft of the bill, which includes at least 12 amendments proposed by the opposition. The JUI-F, which opposed the bill in the National Assembly despite being a coalition partner of the ruling PML-N, told the minister that it would give a reply after getting the draft vetted by its legal team. Govt’s move to approach JUI-F angers PPP PPP’s Parliamentary Leader in Senate Raza Rabbani, who had been a part of the negotiations between the government and the opposition over the bill, expressed his surprise over the government’s decision to hand over the draft to the JUI-F after reaching an understanding with six opposition parties. “It is not only the PPP’s draft. It is the draft on which the ANP, PML-Q, BNP-A and even the MQM and the PTI have an agreement,” he said, adding: “If the government wants to make the settled issue hostage to just one party, then we are also not bound by the amendments suggested by that one party.” “The whole issue will have to be reopened,” he said. He said the JUI-F was a coalition partner and the government should have approached the opposition parties after consulting its allies on the issue. JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai said a team of lawyers was expected to review the draft on Monday. In reply to a question, he said: “The opposition parties are justified in expressing their reservations. It was the job of the government to take all the parties on board on the bill through a committee.” It showed that the government was not handling the matters seriously, he said. He said the JUI-F felt no urgency in getting the bill adopted by parliament because the law had already completed even its extended life. Zahid Hamid, who has been functioning as a de facto law minister, expressed the hope that the bill would soon be passed by parliament with consensus. When his attention was drawn towards Senator Rabbani’s reservations, he said they were based on an “assumption” that the JUI-F would suggest some major changes. He was of the view that the JUI-F would also agree on the draft and might suggest only some minor amendments. The minister said the government had invited all the parties to discuss the draft, but Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of the JUI-F had failed to turn up in the meeting. Interestingly, the bill is pending before the Senate Committee on Interior which is headed by Talha Mehmood of the JUI-F. The Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) completed its extended life earlier this month after the government’s failure to get it through the Senate to make it an act of parliament within the constitutional time limit. Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2014