ISLAMABAD: Former Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Thursday strongly criticised the passage of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026, by the National Assembly, saying the legislation was approved without proper scrutiny and posed serious concerns for constitutionally protected property rights.“The bill had been introduced in Parliament at the behest of multinational companies operating in the telecommunications, broadband and related infrastructure sectors,” he alleged in a statement on Thursday.
Raza Rabbani maintained that the right to property is protected under the Constitution and cannot be taken away under the guise of providing a “right of way” to serve corporate interests. He noted that while the government had argued that the legislation was aimed at promoting ease of doing business in the telecom sector, the bill contained provisions empowering the relevant government authority to impose fines of up to Rs50 million on property owners or lessees for “obstructing” or “delaying” the grant of access rights under Section 27A. He said the terms “obstructing” and “delaying” were distinct from a breach of contract and raised significant legal and constitutional questions that warranted far greater parliamentary examination.
Rabbani warned that, in its present form, the bill conferred extraordinary powers on telecommunication companies, potentially overriding property and personal rights in the event of disputes. “The government cannot promote or support telecommunication infrastructure by force at the expense of citizens’ rights,” he said. He further pointed out that the relevant Senate standing committee had been deliberating on the revised text of the legislation and proposed amendments, making it inappropriate for Parliament to pass the bill without a comprehensive review.
He stressed that any legislation affecting constitutionally protected rights must be subjected to rigorous parliamentary scrutiny and public debate before being enacted into law. Calling on lawmakers in the upper house to block the measure, Raza Rabbani said the Senate should reject the bill in its current form.
