Islamabad, February 16: The Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Ordinance 2007 is seriously flawed and it should either be completely scrapped or thoroughly amended before it is brought to the Parliament, believed majority of speakers at the PILDAT Legislative Forum on the ordinance held here today. The Forum witnessed a near unanimity that this legislation should not have been brought before the Parliament.

Speakers at the PILDAT Forum included Mr. Farhatullah Babar, former Senator; Mr. Shahid Hamid, Senior Advocate Supreme Court and former Governor Punjab; Capt. (Retd.) Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal, MNA; Member National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence; Mr. Ayaz Amir, MNA; Member National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence and Senator S. M. Zafar, former Law Minister.

Introducing the Forum and PILDAT�s initiative, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director PILDAT said that the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Ordinance 2007, which was first promulgated in February 2005 and has been re-promulgated a couple of times since, has reportedly been approved with a simple majority by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence in December 2009 before it can be considered by the Parliament. The Ordinance and its current formulation have raised dissenting views and concerns inside and outside the Parliament. The Ordinance also relates to the wider question about the nature and equation of civil-military relations in Pakistan. PILDAT analysed the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Ordinance 2007 in the shape of a Legislative Brief for the benefit of Parliamentarians, stakeholders, news media and the citizens. The Brief examines the Ordinance in detail and outlines a number of legal and constitutional questions relating to the current formulation of the Ordinance. The objective behind holding the Forum was to generate an informed discourse for the benefit of Parliament and the public on what may be the course adopted with regards to this ordinance.

Speaking at the Forum, Mr. Farhatullah Babar, who has extensively written and researched on Defence-related enterprises during his tenure as a Senator, said that the Ordinance was brought before the Parliament through the Supreme Court judgement of July 2009. He said the PPP has been taking a stance against enlarging the interest of the defence-related corporations. He admitted that the ordinance should not have been passed by the National Assembly Defence Committee in its current form. He especially highlighted problem areas of the ordinance in terms of the vast powers of DHA Islamabad as a corporate authority, its quasi public status and ability to function as an non-elected municipal administration, granting the status of public servants to the DHA Islamabad authority despite the non-application of the Industrial Relations Act. Mr. Babar also highlighted the non-equitable status of the distribution of plots as well as lack of transparency in the DHAs as an issue of concern.

Mr. Shahid Hamid, eminent advocate, who presented an overview of the ordinance said that the very basis of the ordinance was unconstitutional as the DHA Islamabad was established in Rawalpindi district and granting of municipal powers to the DHA through the ordinance meant it was a legislation dealing with local government, a subject which only provinces can legislate on constitutionally. He elaborated a number of significant public and quasi-public powers which grant DHA Islamabad a significant advantage over privately operated concerns.

Capt. (Retd.) Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal, MNA and Member National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence, discussed the benefits of the DHA Islamabad scheme. He believed that though the Committee had passed the ordinance, it was up to the Parliament to amend the ordinance as it saw fit to reflect the views of the parties represented in the House.

Speaking at the Forum, Mr. Ayaz Amir, MNA and Member National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence said that the real issue under question was the unconstitutional nature of the Ordinance that the Parliament can not consider. He criticised the role of the Ministry of Defence in the haste with which it wanted to get the Ordinance approved as well as what he termed the �keen-ness� by which the Committee Chair pursued the matter. He said that he had warned that the nature of the ordinance and its passage by the committee and later by the Parliament will unnecessarily generate a debate which will not be good for the morale of the Army undertaking a sensitive law-enforcing operation in the country. He said that Defence Housing Authorities were effectively run housing schemes but these should not need public cover or undue advantage due to being attached with the Defence Forces that the market generally is not receiving.

Senator S. M. Zafar said that contrary to the impression that the government was asked by the Supreme Court to bring all ordinances for approval by the Parliament, the government was not duty-bound in any way to bring this or any other ordinance to the Parliament. He believed that given the stance of various political parties including the PPPP in the previous Parliament on the issue of defence-related enterprises, the ordinance should have been amended to reflect the stance of the government and its coalition partners on the issue. He considered it a positive step that the defence establishment sought the approval of Parliament and Parliamentary scrutiny of the running of various functions and believed that Parliament should consider a thoroughly amended version of the Ordinance that should exclude municipal and tax-levying powers and public status of employees of the DHA in the ordinance.

Parliamentarians from key political parties participated in the Forum prominent among which were Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MNA; Senator Ilyas Bilour; Senator Haji Adeel, Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan, MNA and others. Analysts and media persons also participated at the forum.

Although the discussion witnessed serious debate on the nature of civil-military relations in Pakistan, especially relating to the issue of enlarging the interests of the Army-related institutions into non-military, commercial concerns, whilst granting discriminatory advantage to the Army-related institutions in terms of the market, the participants qualified their comments by saying that Pakistan military remains a respected institution and criticising the bill did not mean that military�s professional role and stature was criticised in any way.

Khawaja Muhammad Asif believed that not only that this Ordinance should not be brought before Parliament, but the Parliament must exercise its authority to strike down the DHA Islamabad and DHA Karachi legislations as well bringing the Defence Housing Authorities at par with the other private housing schemes in the country. He criticised that the housing scheme mainly established and run for the welfare of defence employees had witnessed corruption and scams as well.

The PILDAT Legislative Forum on the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Ordinance has been organised under the PILDAT project titled Research and Dialogue to Improve Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan which is supported by the British High Commission, Islamabad.