ISLAMABAD: Senator Farhatullah Babar has urged leaders of all parliamentary parties to pass the draft legislation concerning intelligence agencies as a Private Member’s Bill.
He was speaking at the requisition session of the Senate on Tuesday.
Babar, a Pakistan People’s Party senator, said the federal government had failed to respond to the Senate on the matter of the draft legislation within the stipulated 60-day period.
He also said that the upper house of the Parliament would be responsible for any further delay in passage of draft bill on regulation of affairs of the intelligence agencies.
The senator recalled that sometime ago a copy of the draft legislation had been sought but the request was turned down on grounds that the issue was ‘secret and sensitive’.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Commission on Enforced Disappearances had also asked for legislation for regulation of affairs of intelligence agencies, but successive government have failed to deliver on that front,” he lamented.
Babar said that last year in December the Senate had unanimously adopted half a dozen recommendations including the draft legislation that sought oversight of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency’s affairs. He said recommendations were included in the draft to criminalise enforced disappearances and to bring state agencies under the ambit of the law. The draft also sought ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances.
Babar reminded the Senate that it was also decided that in case the government failed to enact the proposed law it would be asked to explain itself to a bi-partisan oversight committee. If the oversight committee was not satisfied with the government’s response, leaders of all parliamentary parties will endorse the draft law as a Private Member’s Bill, the senator said, referring to the decision taken last year by the Senate Committee of the Whole.
Babar said the government had failed to respond to the Senate within the stipulated period of 60 days. “It’s now the responsibility of leaders of the parliamentary parties to get the draft bill passed as a Private member’s Bill,” he said.
“Parties whose leaders fail to sign the bill now will stand exposed before the people of Pakistan. The public will also find out about forces that create hurdles in the passage of the bill at any stage,” Babar noted.
Censuring parliamentary political parties, Babar said they had not taken the bull by the horns in the matter concerning criminalisation of enforced disappearances and regulation of state agencies.
He lamented that because of the absence of legislation not a single perpetrator of the crime of enforced disappearance had been held accountable in the country.
During his speech, Babar also criticised the government for different standards in measuring compensation for victims of terrorist attacks and other tragedies in different regions of the country. He said the government was giving out an impression that lives of those living in provinces other than Punjab were less worthy. “The body of a victim fetches Rs2 million in Punjab, Rs1 million in Sindh, half a million in Balochistan and only Rs200,000 in Tribal Areas,” he said, warning that such actions could be detrimental to the health of the federation.
Published in Daily Times, July 19th , 2017.
