Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and MNA Mohsin Dawar on Tuesday walked out of the National Assembly session which approved the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2020, calling it “one of the darkest days in Pakistan’s parliamentary history”.
Taking to Twitter following the session, Dawar, who is a staunch supporter of parliamentary democracy, wrote: “This parliament acted like a rubber stamp,” claiming the “speaker didn’t even allow the few dissenting voices to make their case”.
“This is one of the darkest days in Pakistan’s parliamentary history. It will take a long time to recover from this,” he added.
We voted against the #ArmyAct before walking out. This parliament acted like a rubber stamp. Speaker didn’t even allow the few dissenting voices to make their case. This is one of the darkest days in Pakistan’s parliamentary history. It will take a long time to recover from this.
— Mohsin Dawar (@mjdawar) January 7, 2020
However, Dawar mentioned that he voted against the proposed legislation before walking out of the session.
In a significant development, the Lower House on Tuesday approved the amendments to three bills regarding the tenure of the services chiefs — chief of army staff, chief of air staff and chief of naval staff — and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee (CJCSC).
The three bills are the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The legislation was unanimously supported by the major opposition parties including PPP and the PML-N. However, it was rejected by the far-right parties including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami and representatives from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) who walked out of the assembly, declaring the House to be “fake”.
