Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah on Saturday said that his party should not have been part of the ‘undue haste exhibited by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’ over the legislation on the tenure of armed services chiefs, a private TV channel reported.
“Had there not been undue haste in taking this decision … and our parliamentary party also became part of that undue haste which, we believe, was a bit of an error. We should not have become a part of the government’s undue haste, instead, we should have stopped it,” he told a press conference here. “In the message he sent, Nawaz Sharif said that ‘do not become a part of undue haste which makes it look like this parliament has become a rubberstamp’,” he said, adding that the opposition leaders who opposed the bill had objections over the process adopted by the government, not the army chief’s extension.
Rana Sanaullah said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s August 19 decision to give the army chief an extension had not been contested by major political parties. “This government’s failure to follow the procedural requirement is the reason that the amendments became controversial. It was not our party or anyone else who had a part to play in that,” he said. “A lot of people were surprised by the decision of the ruling party to convene an emergency session of the parliament to pass the Army Act amendments. Upon further enquiries, it was conveyed that the amendments had to be passed in a single day,” he noted.
The PML-N leader said that those criticising the party’s conduct on the legislation were not the workers of the party. He rejected the perception that the PML-N had dropped its stance of ‘vote ko izzat do’ (respect the vote). “We stand by [our stance] of vote ko izzat do and civilian supremacy,” he insisted, in response to a question.
Earlier this week, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence unanimously approved the three bills concerning tenures of the services chiefs and the chairman of joint chiefs of staff committee. They were then tabled in the National Assembly and were passed even though religious party members, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-i-Islami and representatives from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), staged a walkout.
The bills were then forwarded to Senate, where they were passed in less than 30 minutes.
As per the amendments approved by both houses of Parliament, the appointment of the services chiefs and chairman, joint chiefs of the staff committee would be the prerogative of the prime minister and his decision to appoint, reappoint or extend the tenures of the chiefs and the chairman cannot be challenged in any court of law. The upper age limit for a four-star appointment has been fixed at 64 years in case of reappointment and extension, otherwise the officer will retire at the age of 60 years.
