The parliamentary body on law on Wednesday sought opinion of the ministries of Law and Foreign Affairs on a proposed piece of legislation suggesting all treaties and agreements relating to the country’s defence shall be presented before parliament and duly ratified by it. The committee, which met with Begum Nasim Chaudhry in the chair, asked the ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs to vet the draft bill proposed by Khurram Jehangir Wattoo and take into consideration all aspects and fallout of the proposed law. It also decided to take views of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the subject and summon the defence secretary in the next meeting of the committee so as to know the position of the ministry on the proposed bill.
Majority of parliamentarians supported the bill. However, they were wary of the legal and constitutional complexities that might have been involved in it. Justice (r) Fakhrun Nisa, Ghafoor Chaudhary, SA Iqbal Qadri, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Riaz Fatiana and Anusha Rehman supported the bill, calling it the need of the hour in the context of what the country was facing due to unwritten and secret deals with other countries in the name of defence cooperation. Ghafoor Chaudhry said, “Definitely, there is a requirement to improve the system but it (proposed law) will change the shape of the constitution and the executive would face difficulty in exercising its authority vis-à-vis defence-related matters.”
