The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued its boycott of standing committees on Wednesday, prompting the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs to remove a family laws bill moved by opposition senator Ali Zafar from its agenda.
The committee met under the chairmanship of Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman, who informed members that Ali Zafar’s bill related to Muslim family laws had remained on the agenda since 2024.
He said that repeated absence of PTI members from committee meetings had made it impractical to keep their legislative proposals pending indefinitely.
“If PTI members do not attend the committee meetings, their bills are removed from the agenda,” the chairman said, adding that it was unclear how long opposition bills could be retained without the presence of their movers.
Committee members endorsed the decision to remove opposition-sponsored bills in such circumstances.
During the meeting, Senator Sarmad Ali gave a briefing on the Muslim Family Laws Bill, emphasising that strict action should be taken against individuals who fail to pay child support.
The chairman informed the committee that the bill had already been referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and that its response was still awaited.
The development comes amid PTI’s continued boycott of parliamentary standing committees, which has affected the legislative process and deliberations on several opposition-backed bills.
