Defence standing committee to meet again to discuss amendment bills

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the standing committee on defence has been summoned again on Monday, January 6 2020 to discuss the Army Act, Air Force Act and Navy Act amendment bills.

According to the National Assembly secretariat, the rules and regulations of the parliament were violated during the January 3 session of the committee.

Sources said in the meeting of the standing committee that took place on January 3, parliamentary secretary Captain Jamil Ahmed presided over the session which was in violation of the rules and regulations of the parliament. 

Sources further said Ahmed did not call for a vote when the time came to approve the bills. Hence, Amjad Khan Niazi will chair the session of the standing committee when it meets again to discuss the amendment bills on Monday.

In the meeting that took place on January 3, members of the senate had been called to discuss the bills. However, senators have not been asked to attend the meeting of the standing committee on Monday which will again discuss the same bills. 

It must be kept in mind that the committee had accepted all three bills during the meeting that took place on January 3. 

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have already given their assent to the amendment bills. The PML-N has announced it will support the bill 'unconditionally' while the PPP has called for the 'democratic legislative process' to be followed. 

These laws will will set the maximum age limit of the three services chiefs — chief of army staff, chief of air staff and chief of naval staff--64 years. If the bills get passed, the prime minister will have the power to extend the tenure of any service chief and the president will give his final nod. 

The amendments also sought through the bill seek to make future extensions of army, navy and air force chiefs 'airtight' as the bills state categorically that the decision to do so "shall not be called into question before any court on any ground whatsoever".

Read more: NA to vote on bill formalising services chiefs' tenure

SC issues detailed verdict in COAS extension case

On November 28, the top court, in its short order, had allowed the federal government to grant a six-month extension to COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The court "found that the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 falls deficient of the structural requirements for raising and maintaining an Army under clause (3) of Article 243 of the Constitution".

The verdict noted that "no tenure or age of retirement for the rank of General is provided under the law. As per the institutional practice a General retires on completion of a tenure of three years. Although an institutional practice cannot be a valid substitute of the law."

The apex court had allowed General Bajwa to continue to serve as the army chief for six more months before the government legislated on the matter.