Sherry says PPP will not support any PTA bill in Senate sans 'thorough' standing committee debate

Amid vocal criticism of a bill aimed at advancing fibreisation across the country, PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman said on Monday that the party would not support any such legislation in the Senate unless it was “thoroughly discussed threadbare” in the relevant standing committee and the party’s proposed deletions were ensured in the final bill. Concerns about the intentions behind the Pakistan Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill 2026 have intensified due to the timing of the government’s attempt to secure its passage through both houses of Parliament and criticism against its clause to allow telecommunication companies to use public land without a fee. The bill was approved by the National Assembly (NA) on June 11, a day before the presentation of the federal budget 2026-27, and was presented in the Senate on June 15. It was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunication on June 15, before being deferred. On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also formed a committee to review the bill and submit its recommendations. In a post on the social media platform X on Monday, Rehman said, “For the record, the PPP in the Senate will not be passing any IT/PTA/RWA legislation which is not thoroughly discussed threadbare in the Standing Committee of the Senate with our deletions assured in the final bill.” She maintained that the bill transmitted by the NA was stopped in the Senate “by us because it still contained draconian clauses we had repeatedly asked to be removed, especially 27-A”. The aforementioned clause of the bill deals with telecom operators and the acquisition of private land. “Our NA members were told these [had] been removed when the bill was moved there. Some other unacceptable clauses were removed but all were still not deleted when the bill was transmitted to us in the upper House, which is why we insisted on sending it to the standing committee in the Senate,” she added. “We are certainly not against fiberisation in Pakistan