- The government must show its goodwill
The failure to pass the Army (Amendment) Bill on Saturday, as scheduled, and its postponement to Monday, shows that the passage of the Supreme Court-mandated legislation to regulate extension in the COAS’s tenure has not been as smooth as the government hoped. The postponement to Monday from the originally planned Saturday may allow the Parliament’s Defence Committee more time to evolve a consensus, but no meetings have been scheduled. However, without some behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, it is difficult to see a consensus being evolved.
Both the main opposition parties are insisting that there should be close adherence to parliamentary procedure, which may be a code phrase for allowing a full-fledged debate on the measure when it reaches the floor. The Treasury, on the other hand, would like the Joint Committees report be accepted, and passed unanimously without debate. That the government should set such an ambitious goal, or rather that it has failed to achieve it, would indicate that the government’s floor management team, headed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Swati, has botched matters badly, that the production orders issued for both PPP and PML-N members under arrest have not been enough.
The government must concert new measures, like ending the cases against leaders of both parties who have spent more than a certain time in NAB custody, and against whom evidence has not been produced, to the extent that they have not been brought to trial. The government should not forget that the Army Act (Amendment) is not the only bill it wishes to bring before Parliament, and that it will require opposition goodwill to ensure the passage of its proposed amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance. Just as much as the Army Act Amendment was necessitated by the government’s desire, or obligation, to extend the tenure of the present Chief of Army Staff, its desire to prevent it hounding either bureaucrats or businessman is behind its need to get the NAB law amended. The government must realise that it has such a small presence in the Upper House that it will get passage of its needed legislation by fracturing the opposition and getting the support of one part or another. It needs all parties, and that it can only get by being proactive.
