ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Senate on Tuesday strongly contested the legitimacy of legislation passed by an incomplete parliament, raising concerns over potential constitutional breaches and procedural lapses.
Speaking on a point of order on the final day of the Senate’s parliamentary year, Leader of the Opposition Syed Shibli Faraz criticized what he described as repeated constitutional violations, which he argued had led to legal uncertainties and political disputes.
Faraz highlighted that, according to Article 59 of the Constitution, the Senate must have 96 members serving six-year terms. However, the house had remained incomplete for over a year due to the delay in holding Senate elections for 11 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He questioned the validity of key legislative decisions, including the election of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman, arguing that such elections could not be deemed constitutional if the house itself was not properly constituted.
Citing Article 60, he pointed out a discrepancy in the tenure of the chairman and deputy chairman, who took their oaths on April 8, 2024, but would serve until March 10, 2027, resulting in an unexplained 20-day gap in their terms.
Faraz also criticized the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failing to conduct Senate elections in KP within the stipulated time under Article 218. He cited the case of Senator Sania Nishtar, whose resignation was accepted after over five months, as an example of constitutional non-compliance under Article 224, which mandates that vacant Senate seats must be filled within 30 days. He even suggested that such violations could warrant legal action under Article 6, which deals with high treason.
According to the opposition leader, the absence of KP senators not only undermined the constitutional framework but also rendered the elections for the offices of the Senate chairman, deputy chairman, and even the president unconstitutional. He further questioned how KP senators, when eventually elected, would complete a six-year term if a year had already been lost, warning that this could lead to another constitutional crisis.
In response, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar argued that the delay in Senate elections in KP was due to political, rather than legal or constitutional reasons. He stated that the ECP had scheduled elections for all provinces, but the PTI-led KP government refused to convene the necessary assembly session to administer the oath to newly elected members on reserved seats. Even after the Peshawar High Court ordered the session to be held, it was not called, he said, preventing Senate elections in the province.
Tarar maintained that the elections for Senate chairman and deputy chairman were conducted in accordance with constitutional provisions, which do not mandate a full-strength Senate for the process. He also countered the opposition’s legal argument by recalling that former President Arif Alvi’s dissolution of the National Assembly in April 2022—on the advice of then-Prime Minister Imran Khan—could itself have been grounds for an Article 6 case, though the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government chose not to pursue it.
Despite these explanations, Senator Shibli Faraz rejected the law minister’s defense, insisting that the government’s legal position was untenable.
Meanwhile, Presiding Officer Senator Irfan Siddiqui read out a Senate Secretariat clarification regarding Senator Sania Nishtar’s delayed resignation acceptance. The statement explained that her resignation, submitted on October 28, 2023, was postponed due to procedural requirements for physical verification, refuting claims of intentional delay.
Another key moment of the session came when PTI Senator Mohsin Aziz urged the Senate to complete pending legislative matters before the parliamentary year ended. He specifically called for the announcement of the vote count on the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill, which had been withheld by the deputy chairman.
