Joint session ends with four bills passed amid pandemonium
Another four bills deferred on the request of Federal Minister Maqbool Siddiqui: Joint session adjourned to meet again on Feb 12
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The Treasury was able to get only four bills passed in the joint session of the Parliament with plenty on agenda amid pandemonium created by the opposition’s legislators from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The PTI lawmakers entered the house holding placards and chanting slogans like “PECA Act unacceptable”, “oppression of journalists unacceptable” and “Go Shehbaz Go”.
The journalists, protesting against yesterday’s amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016, wore black armbands to register their protest while covering the session proceedings.
Opposition Leader Omar Ayub’s request to speak on a point of order was outrightly rejected by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, triggering opposition MNAs to stand on their seats, shout slogans, and tear apart copies of the legislative agenda.
Despite the uproar, the government managed to get passed four bills — Trade Organisations (Amendment) Bill 2021, Imports and Exports Regulatory (Amendment) Bill 2023, National Institute of Technology Bill 2024 and National Excellence Institute Bill 2024.
The bills were tabled in the House by Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, MNA Zehra Wadood Fatmi and Senator Manzoor Ahmed.
The Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that unfortunately nobody from the opposition opposed these bills.
However, four other bills — National Commission for Human Development (Amendment) Bill 2023, NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan (Amendment) Bill 2023, National Skills University Islamabad (Amendment) Bill 2023, Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science, and Technology Islamabad (Amendment) Bill 2023 — were deferred on the request of Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.
The session lasted for about 20 minutes. Later, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq adjourning the proceeding to February 12.
The journalists also staged a protest against PECA Amendment Bill 2025 outside the Parliament House after which the security personnel did not let in the House to attend session.
Reporters Rozina Ali and Tayyab Saif