National Assembly (NA) on Monday approved Defense Housing Authority (DHA) Bill 2013 with consensus, while a bill to further amend the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997 has been floated in the lower house of the Parliament under the title ‘The Anti-terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013, following which party workers of banned outfits would not be able to travel out of country.
The 49th session of the National Assembly started under the chairmanship of Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi with question hour as its top agenda.
In written answers, the House was informed that the country has notified a ‘Negative list of 1,209 items that are banned for import from India including 16 agricultural items, 12 aluminium items, 385 auto parts, 28 ceramics, 33 chemicals, 22 cutlery, 3 electrical appliances, 54 electric machinery items, 7 footwear, 16 furniture, 22 glass, 3 gems and jewellery, 19 leather, 37 machinery, 5 metal products, 6 meters, 2 optical fibre, 49 pharmaceutical, 19 rubber, 32 sports, 137 steel, 74 textile and 10 surgical items.
Addressing a point of order, NA Leader of Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan remarked that earlier when the DHA Bill was floated in the house, it was shocking to see legislation under progress in the centre over a provincial bill, adding that efforts were being made to create a state within a state.
He said he had announced complete opposition to the bill, if the government tried to force it. However, he said, the government agreed to remove their grievances.
He said if it had been passed in its earlier status, the bill would have caused huge disrespect for the armed forces, however the secretary defense was taken on board over the issue and the procedure to transform DHA from being an elite housing society was restricted.
He said many amendments presented by his party were included in the bill, numbering around 31, focusing on welfare of low profile armed forces officers including families of martyrs and NCOs.
Pointing towards Malik Riaz without naming him, Nisar said Riaz was behind the whole bill in its earlier shape and was trying to empower DHA with the powers of CDA and cantonments, adding that it would have been better if the bill would have been corrected in negotiations between opposition and the government instead of the GHQ.
Nisar said his party still had objections over including serving military high-ups in the bill, following which Syed Zafar Ali Shah also opposed the bill saying that specific housing societies’ bills should not be presented in the House.
The ‘The Anti-terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013 was also floated in the house which seeks that banned outfits would neither be issued loans nor would they be able to sustain monetary assistance and credit cards in any way, and their arms licenses would also be cancelled according to the text of the bill.
The draft of the bill adds that on secret information, the government is authorised to issue orders for arrest of a suspected person for 90 days. The arrest of the accused cannot be challenged in any court.
The Bill authorises the federal government to tap phone calls and messages of transgressors in order to trace them and in case of a civil war and internal threats, communication system of the country may also be suspended for national security.
Earlier, the House allocated opposition benches to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), after their applications had been accepted.
