ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday decided to hold public hearings on the issue of creation of new provinces in the country, particularly on the bills pending in the Senate regarding the creation of south Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces.

A meeting of the committee, presided over by its chairman Senator Ali Zafar of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), also decided to take up the issues of appointment of judges and regulation of suo motu powers separately, says an official handout.

Besides this, the committee also decided to summon inspectors-general of police (IGPs) of all provinces and other senior officials of provincial home ministries and the federal interior ministry to discuss impediments to implementation of anti-rape laws and seek practical suggestions for improving the investigation and prosecution of rape cases.

“Rape cases cannot be taken lightly and negligence in implementing anti-rape laws will not be tolerated. Continuous monitoring is the only answer to bring those who commit these heinous crimes to justice,” Mr Zafar said, while directing the committee to take up anti-rape cases in the subsequent meetings.

The committee deferred almost all agenda items, including some crucial constitution amendment bills, due to the absence of Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem.

The committee chairman took serious exception to the continuous absence of the law minister from meetings of the committee and issued directives that the minister must ensure his presence at the next meeting.

He said that in case the minister did not turn up in the next meeting of the committee, he would put the bills for voting in the committee.

Mr Zafar noted that the minister should have been present in the meeting to state the policy of the government on important constitution amendments relating to the issuance of ordinances and increase in the Senate powers.

The chairman of the committee said that a number of key constitution amendment bills had been pending in the committee. While categorising these bills, he said the committee would hold public hearings to seek views on the issue of creating new provinces in the country.

On Jan 17, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had referred a private member’s bill, moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Rana Mehmoodul Hassan seeking creation of south Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces, to the committee.

As soon as the PML-N member tabled the bill, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi declared that the ruling PTI stood by its electoral promise and sought support from all other parties to help make it a reality.