On 21-11-2017, Syed
Naveed Qamar and Dr. Azra Fazal Pecheho MNAs moved a motion in the National
Assembly for consideration of the Election (Amendment) Bill, a Private Members
Bill which had been earlier passed by the Senate. This Bill sought to amend
section 203 of the Election Act, 2017 to insert a provision barring a person
from being appointed or serving as an officer-bearer of a political party who is not qualified to be, or is disqualified
from being, elected or chosen as a Member of Parliament under any law for the
time being in force.
Opposing the Motion, Mr. Zahid Hamid,
Minister for Law and Justice narrated the history of the provision
disqualifying office bearers of political parties. General Ayub Khan’s regime
had enacted the Political Parties Act, 1962 of which section 5 disqualified a
person for being a member or office bearer of a political party if he had been
convicted and sentenced to imprisonment of not less than two years, or
disqualified under Articles 121 or 122 of the 1962 Constitution for gross
misconduct, or dismissed from the Service of Pakistan or disqualified for
misconduct under EBDO [Elective Bodies (Disqualification) Order, 1959].
This provision was omitted by the
democratic government of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto through the Political Parties
(Amendment) Act, 1972 which specifically stated in its preamble that the
amendments were being made for the purpose of bringing these provisions in
accord with the Constitution.
This situation prevailed for 25 years
till the year 2000, when section 4 of the Political Parties Act, 1962 was
amended by General Musharaf’s regime to bar a person from being an
office-bearer of a political party if he
is disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a Member of
Parliament under Article 63 of the Constitution or under any other law for the
time being in force, or if he has been convicted a criminal offence involving
moral turpitude, or an offence under the Anti Terrorism Act, or involving
public order or morality.
This was followed by the Political
Parties Order, 2002 of which Article 5 retained the provision barring a person
from being an officer-bearer of a political party if he is disqualified from
being, elected or chosen as, a member of parliament under Article 63 of the
Constitution or any other law. These amendments were made by General Musharraf
with the malafide intention of preventing Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Mr.
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif from heading their respective political parties.
On 17-11-2014 in the 5th
meeting of the Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral
Reforms, during review of the Political Parties Order, 2002 the
disqualification provision referred to above in Article 5 was recommended to be
omitted. This clearly disproves the allegation that omission of the provision
was person-specific to benefit Mian Nawaz Sharif as this decision was made
nearly a year and a half before the Panama Papers were leaked. The omission/
removal of the disqualification provision is in accordance with Article 17(2)
of the Constitution which entitles every citizen, not being in the service of
Pakistan to form and be a member of a political party. This right is subject
only to reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the
sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan and cannot be curbed by any other
condition.
Minister for Law and Justice also
stated that on 06.01.2017, a comparative table of the Draft
Elections Bill, 2017 (which was published on 20.12.2016) and comparable
provisions of the existing laws including the Political Parties Order,
2002 was shared with Mr. Naveed
Qamar MNA and Dr. Arif Alvi, MNA on their request through E-mail. The
comparative table clearly shows the proposed amendment in Article 5(1)
of the Political Parties Order, 2002.
The above decision of the
Sub-Committee was incorporated in the draft bill submitted to the main PCER on
20.12.2016, posted on the website of the Assembly and widely circulated. It was
again included in the Bill attached with the Final Report of the Sub-Committee
and then with the Final Report of the PCER dated 19.7.2017, which was laid
before both Houses of Parliament.
No member of the Parliamentary
Committee on Electoral Reforms, Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee, MNA or Senator, civil society organizations or any
person from general public raised any objection regarding omission of the
disqualification provision from 17.11.2014 till 22.08.2017 when it was passed
by the National Assembly. It was only on
22.09.2017, that this objection was raised for the first time on the Senate
floor by the opposition parties. Their amendment was defeated in the Senate by
one vote. The opposition parties’ objection was clearly an after-thought and
was targeted against Mian Nawaz Sharif, as is clear from the difference in
wording of the original provision in Article 5 (1) of the Political Parties
Order, 2002 and the provision sought to be inserted through the Bill in
question whereby reference to Article 63 has been omitted. It is not section
203 of the Election Act, 2017 but the Election (Amendment) Bill, 2017 of the
opposition parties which is person-specific. It has been rightly rejected by
the National Assembly.
