ISLAMABAD - In order to ensure legislation on FATF related bills in the month of September, PTI’s government has to first summon the National Assembly to refer both the FATF related bills in the joint session of Parliament for its approval.

The government is constitutionally bound to refer FATF related bills, recently rejected from the upper house of the Parliament, from the National Assembly to the joint session of the Parliament to pass it, parliamentary sources told The Nation. The government is interested to approve both the rejected bills: ‘The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill’ and ‘The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Waqf Properties’.

The government was defeated in the Senate due to having insufficient strength in the house, as the opposition managed to disapprove both the FATF related bills with the majority of votes. Prime Minister Imran Khan had strongly reacted to the rejection of these FATF related bill in the Senate, as he tweeted, “to blackmail for NRO by defaming NAB, they would even have Pak (Pakistan) put on FATF black list to destroy nation’s economy & increase poverty. They keep threatening to bring down govt. unless given NRO”.

Sources said that the government was instructed by its legal experts to first summon the National Assembly session before calling the joint sitting of the Parliament. The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs or the concerned treasury benches member, as per the constitutional requirement, would formally refer the bill to the joint session for its requirement.

The government would able to pass these FATF related bills with the majority of votes after completing this legal requirement under article-70 [Rules of procedure], they said. The government only in a two month would call second joint session only to approve the FATF related bills.