ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday introduced the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2026 amongst five bills in the National Assembly which proposes enhanced punishment for dealing in stolen petroleum and tampering with petroleum pipelines.
According to the bill introduced by the Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar, the culprits involving in tampering with petroleum pipelines, dealing in stolen petroleum and damaging or destroying the transmission lines may be arrested without warrants.
Tampering with petroleum pipelines shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to seven years and fine up to Rs30 million. Dealing in stolen petroleum shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to 14 years but not less than seven years with fine up to Rs30 million. Act of damaging or destroying transmission or transportation lines shall also be punishable with rigorous imprisonment of 10 years but not less than seven years and fine which may extend to Rs30 million. The government also introduced The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2026”, “The Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (Amendment) Bill, 2025”, “The Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electricity Power (Amendment) Bill, 2026” and “The Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Bill, 2025.” A significant feature of the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) which amends the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinances, 2001, is the introduction of mechanism empowering the financial institutions to seek assistance from the concerned authorities for taking possession of mortgaged property thereby addressing the implementation challenges and ensuring swift enforcement.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs moved a motion of thanks which says the House expresses its deep gratitude to the President of Pakistan for his address to both the houses assembled together on March 2.
The House also offered Fateha for the departed soul of Marvi Malik, daughter of senior PPP parliamentarian Dr Sherry Rehman. Meanwhile, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq chaired a meeting of the House Business Advisory Committee of the National Assembly prior to start of the 26th session of the sitting assembly. The House will now meet on Thursday evening after a break of two days.
The committee reviewed the agenda and duration of the ongoing 26th session of the National Assembly. It was unanimously agreed that the current session will continue until Friday, April 10.
The committee deliberated that the ongoing session will take up question hour, and other matters of national importance to ensure effective parliamentary oversight and address key public concerns.
During the meeting, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq briefed the committee on austerity measures undertaken by the National Assembly Secretariat. He informed that 75 percent of official vehicles have been grounded, while all protocol vehicles have also been withdrawn as part of the austerity drive.
He further stated that only 200 employees are currently attending office in order to reduce operational expenditures. The meeting was attended by Deputy Speaker National Assembly Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah; Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry; Khalid Hussain Magsi; Sheikh Aftab Ahmed and MNAs including Ms Nuzhat Sadiq, Syeda Shehla Raza, Ms Shazia Marri, Syed Abrar Ali Shah, and Syed Hafeezuddin.
