ISLAMABAD – After facing defeat in National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on its proposed bill, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q has decided to get the Pakistan Sovereignty Bill 2010 passed by the Senate Standing Committee, as well as do lobbying in the lower house of the parliament for its passage.
The PML-likeminded is also supporting the legislation and its President Senator Salim Saifullah, who is also the chairman of senate body on foreign affairs, has declared in principle to support the bill. PML-Q senator and prominent constitutional expert, SM Zafar, on Saturday said his party would defend the Pakistan Sovereignty Bill 2010 in the senate body on foreign affairs.
Commenting on the rejection of the proposed bill by the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Friday, Zafar said the proposed bill was meant to counter concerns regarding the Kerry-Lugar Law by “creating a China Wall”. “The bill will protect Pakistan’s sovereignty by barring the executive from taking any steps which are constitutionally prohibited,” he said, adding that the rulers after the passage of the proposed bill could easily ask foreigners that Pakistan’s law did not allow them to toe their lines.
Zafar said the proposed bill might have been rejected by the NA body maybe because his party’s members in the committee failed to convince others on it. PML-Q Senator Wasim Sajjad, leader of opposition in the Senate, has moved the bill in the Upper House of parliament. “We will try to get the Pakistan Sovereignty Bill 2010 passed from the senate standing committee,” he said.
