The Senate turned downed two Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related bills after opposition from PPP and PML-N on Tuesday.
Dr Babar Awan – advisor to prime minister on parliamentary affairs moved the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill in relation with the guidelines of FATF.
The two bills are part of the government’s efforts to exclude Pakistan from FATF’s ‘Grey List’.
During the session of the upper house of the parliament, Federak Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Sherry Rehman, Leader of Opposition Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Maula Bukhsh Chandio, Mushahidullah Khan and Javed Abbasi spoke on the matter.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) opposed the bills successfully voted them down.
Prime Minister Imran Khan lambasted opposition parties for jeopardizing national interest for their own agendas.
“From day one I have maintained that the self-serving interests of the opposition leaders & the country’s interests are divergent,” he tweeted.
The development comes as earlier, National Assembly (NA) unanimously passed these two bills after government succeeded in persuading opposition benches in favor of the two bills.