ISLAMABAD: The government put off voting on the controversial Protection of Pakistan (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, during incamera meeting of the National Assembly`s Standing Committee on Interior on Wednesday after a protest by opposition members. The government had to postpone the meeting when even its coalition partner, the JUI-F, refused to vote for it and joined hands with the PPP, PTI, MQM and Jamaat-i-Islami.

When the PPP, PTI and JUI-F legislators sought time to have a detailed reading of the draft and suggest amendments, the MQM declared that it would not support it in the present form at any cost.

The new ordinance amending the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, 2013, promulgated in January, has empowered the government to transfer any under-trial case from any court to special courts to be set up under the new law.

The ordinance also allows special courts to hold in-camera trial of per-sons detained by security agencies.

An amendment to Section 9 of the 2013 ordinance has authorised the government and civil and armed forces to withhold information about location of the detainee or accused person and the detendon centre. Under the new ordinance, the government is also not bound to disclose the reasons or the grounds for detaining any person.

The legislators criticised the government for not providing them sufficient time to go through the bill and bringing it at a time when it had failed to get the original ordinance passed through the assembly.

In February, the government had sought a three-month extension to the PPO 2013 through a resolution in the National Assembly.

Talking to Dawn after the meeting presided over by committee`s chairman Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan, PTPs Dr Arif Alvi said his party had serious reservations over certain clauses of the ordinance, particularly the one which allows the government to transfer the under-trial terrorism cases from any court to the special court.

`Will the government intend to transfer the cases which are being tried in the Supreme Court or any high court?` he said.

The PTI leader said he had protested over the committee chairman`s decision to hold the meeting in camera. He said it was surprising that the protocol officer of the PrimeMinister`s House contacted every member of the committee on Tuesday night and asked them to ensure their presence in the meeting.

MQM`s Asif Hasnain said his party had opposed the original ordinance and it would also oppose the second ordinance which had been issued to amend the first one. He said the MQM was against empowering security agencies to detain suspects for 90 days and it could not endorse the amendments which made this provision applicable to those who had been arrested before promulgation of these ordinances.

Both Mr Hasnain and Mr Alvi said they would submit notes of dissent at the next meeting if the government tried to get the bill passed by majority votes.

According to sources, Yousuf Talpur of PPP asked legislators belonging to the ruling party not to introduce any law that could turn into a noose around their own neck.

The PPP members said there were certain clauses which they could never support.The legislators, the sources said, expressed annoyance over the absence of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from the meeting.

Meanwhile, JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai told Dawn his party had serious reservations and it would be difficult for them to support the law in its present form. He said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had contacted the JUI-F leadership.